Model Research Paper

The Virginia Plan was introduced by Edmund Randolph during the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787. It was presented in the form of fifteen resolutions that detailed why the Articles of Confederation should be replaced. Larger states would support this plan because it called for proportional representation by population. The more population a state had, the more representation it would have in Congress. Smaller states, such as New Jersey opposed this idea and introduced their own plan. The New Jersey plan laid out provisions that called for each state to have equal representation and 1 vote each in Congress regardless of population. It was meant to protect smaller states from the larger states. The Virginia and New Jersey plan. Because

Virginia Plan advocated a national representation through a bicameral legislature based on the state’s population. This led to an interpretation that larger states would have more influence in decision-making. Lower chamber had representatives gotten from larger states and were in charge of the selection of officers to sit in the upper chamber. Lower chamber members were apportioned across various states through population and direct election of the citizenry. In turn, there were members of the lower chamber who would select the upper chamber members from nominee lists supplied from the state legislature (Morton 48). Having lower chamber in charge of the selection of upper chamber officers, the national government had increased power as compared to Articles of Confederation. Additionally, the lower chamber officers also created two more government branches. Lower chamber was in a position of electing officers from proposed judicial and executive branches. Judicial and executive branches in modern times originated from Virginia

The New Jersey Plan proposed three weeks after, and it was a direct response to the Virginia Plan. This plan was obviously born to protect populous states. It stated that there should only have one representative in the unicameral legislature. This proposal’s criteria are not much different from the Articles of Confederation. In other words, it is follwed the Articles of Confederation. Moreover, the New Jersey Plan suggested that we should amend the Articles of Confederation. This plan also added more power to the Congress, which is the authority to raise funds via

A widely controversial issue while creating the Constitution was the number of representatives each state would receive. Larger states advocated for the Virginia plan where there would be a two-house legislature, one of which would comprise representatives directly elected by the population while the other was composed of those nominated by the legislators. This legislature would then be responsible for deciding the executive and judicial branches of the government. Smaller states backed the New Jersey Plan where a one-house legislature was supported, with each state receiving one vote. The representatives would be selected by the legislators and this new Congress would now have the power to collect fees and appoint Supreme Court members. The Virginia Plan would allow for larger states to have more power because representation was proportional to the population while the New Jersey Plan would allow smaller states to havae more power because they had the same amount of representation for a smaller population.

This worked out to satisfaction of the smaller states and for the larger states they were given a House of Representatives that would consist of a larger body of representatives for each state in proportion to the amount of the people in that state.

The Connecticut Plan, also known as the Connecticut Compromise was a merger of the Virginia and the New Jersey Plans. The original Virginia plan wanted representation based on it’s state population and the New Jersey plan wanted an equal number of representatives for all the states. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787 an agreement was reached between the larger and smaller states and it was decided that each state should have fair and equal representation and voting rights. The agreement also laid out the plan for the structure of the representation of each state. This agreement became known as the Great Compromise and a Bi-cameral legislature was formed and divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was decided

When the Constitution was in its ratification process the small states sided with federalists in wanting a stronger central government, while larger states sided with anti-federalists in wanting more state rights. This was seen in two important proposals to the Constitutional convention surrounding the executive branch. First, the New Jersey Plan or the small states plans, wanted one house that has equal representation, with one vote per state. This would make small states more powerful and have the same say in the government as the larger states did. Second, was the Virginia Plan or the large states plan (Document 4), was to have a bicameral legislative, with one house with representation based on population, and the other elected through that house. This gave more power to the states, the larger states gaining a clear advantage as well. These two plans clearly portrayed the different ideas of

The largest compromise of the two, is known as “The Great Compromise.” The Great compromise is the middle ground that the delegates reached after much argument over two proposed plans. The “Virginia” Plan was better suited for the largest states within America. It favored a more powerful state government, Bicameral legislation and the number of representatives would be based on the state’s total population. Whereas, the “New Jersey” Plan was better suited for the smaller states within the union. It gave the power to a national government, favored unicameral legislation and gave each state an equal number of representatives. After weeks of heavy debate and much disagreement the delegates finally reached a compromise. “The Great Compromise,” combined the values and ideas of both the plans into something that they hoped would appease both large and small states. The Great Compromise awarded a Bicameral legislature and allowed the lower house to be determined by the population, while the upper house gave each state an equal number of

To equally represent and balance the scale between population and the states, a lower chamber would exist to represent state population, and an upper chamber to represent equality of the states. Other compromises in the plan proposal included that one executive is to be chosen by the legislative branch and he is limited to serve one term. He could also veto legislation and be removed from office by Congress. The legislative branch would also have the judicial power of choosing judges. Finally, with a bit of tweaking and modification, some features of the New Jersey Plan were mixed and matched into Madison’s official plan and was then voted and signed off by the

During the constitutional convention, two plans were proposed to solve the problem of state representation in the government. The first of the two plans was the Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison and the second being the New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Patterson. Both plans consisted of three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judiciary. however, the New Jersey Plan allowed for multiple executives. Additionally, the Virginia Plan had a bicameral legislature, both houses based on state's’ population or its wealth. The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand, has a unicameral legislature, with its single house giving a single vote to each state

The Virginia Plan sparked debate over its legislative representative proposals. The plan proposed representation of the states by population. This proposition favored the larger states. The Jersey Plan also known as the smaller state plan rallied for equal representation for all states. A compromise was finally reached. One house of the legislature would consist of two representatives from each state. This satisfied the small states. The second house of the legislature would consist of representatives based on population, thus satisfying the larger states. The establishment of a fair measure to apply taxation and representation in the legislature was described in the Federalist Papers: The Apportionment of Members among the States. The government would conduct a census that would prevent the states from understating their population for taxation and overstating their population for representation. The “Great Compromise” resolving the issue of representation did not mean that the federalists and anti-federalists had come to agreement on the Constitution.

Self-interested majorities could easily get their way in votes and decision making if minorities are not given a voice. This would not be a true democracy because the group with a bigger voice made the decisions, not the people as a whole. James Madison believed that pluralism would solve the problem; if more groups had access to political power, then no one group could gain control over the rest. Another problem was the larger population of some states made representation in government disproportionate. The Virginia plan made it so the bigger, more populated states got a bigger voice in Congress. But the New Jersey plan gave each state one vote and handed more voice to the smaller, less populated states. Eventually, a committee was appointed to come up with a solution, or a compromise, to this problem. Rightly named The Great Compromise, this plan made Congress into two chambers: the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The Senate has two senators from every state, while the House of Representatives is composed of representatives based on the population of the state. This gave equal voice to the large states and the smaller states by making the large states predominantly represented in the House of Representatives while making the smaller states represented in the Senate. This allowed all states to be represented equally, regardless of

The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action, written by John P. Roche, addressed the difficulty that the Founding Fathers had in constructing the U.S. Constitution because of the high level of stress they received and the limited amount of time that they had to carry out the formation of this document while keeping the best interest of the country as a priority. John P. Roche starts of by commenting on why the creation of the Constitution was so effective and how the Articles of Confederation benefitted the ratification of the new U.S. Government. As it turns out, the delegates elected to attend Pennsylvania were mainly people who had served in Congress and had experience in the weakness of the Articles in granting too little power to the national government. In addition, the delegates were appointed by the state legislatures, not by the people, as justified by the Articles of Confederation.

     The Virginia delegates proposed a plan of government which included a president, courts, and a congress with two houses. Representation in each house would be based on each states population. Which meant that the larger states would have more votes than the smaller states. Delegates from the smaller states disliked the Virginia plan, because the large states would control congress. The delegates from the smaller states proposed a new plan called the New Jersey plan. This plan called for a governemtn similar to the Articles of Confederation. It had a one house congress in which each state would have equal representation and therefore, equal votes. The larger states didn’t like the New Jersey plan, they felt that the larger states should have more power