Virginia Vs New Jersey Plan Essay

In the “Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan” both plans called for a strong national government with 3 branches which led to the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise provided for a bicameral congress. The bicameral structure wanted to accommodate both large and small states unlike the unicameral which only included the small vote.

Delegates have different views regarding the government failure to scrap of the Articles of Confederation and mark a new begining. The plans under development included the Virginia Plan that favoured large states and the New Jersey plan remedying small states. The Great Compromise was to benefit the small and large states together. Each of the plans would influence modern forms of the American legislature. To begin with, the focus on Madison’s original idea that led to the formation of Virginia Plan was an inclusive measure for active governments. The plan sought to respond to the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation. Articles of Confederation awarded plenty of power to the states instead of the national government (Vile 45).

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

The authors did a good job stating facts about both plans while staying partial to neither of them. On page 32 in the second paragraph the authors write “For instance, it did go a long way in meeting the objectives of those who wanted a stronger union, such as that envisioned in the Virginia Plan, by granting the central government taxing powers and control over interstate and foreign commerce, and by providing as well that its laws would be the “supreme law of the of the respective states…” These together shows the readers a lot of information about the two plans.

Hi! I’m an inhabitant of Connecticut, which you probably already know, is a small state. There have been many arguments between the large and small states about representation. That’s why the states are currently going through a compromise, or an agreement between two or more sides in which each side gives up some of what it wants. States with large populations, such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, favor the Virginia Plan. In the Virginia Plan, the number of representatives is proportional, or corresponding, to the amount of people in the population. On the other hand, states with smaller populations, such as New Jersey and Connecticut, rather have equal representation within all the states, which is why they prefer the New Jersey Plan. Anyways, enough with the facts. It’s time for me to share my

This plan was developed to mirror the Articles of Confederation. Some advantages of the New Jersey Plan were that it had favored a weak national government. This was considered an advantage because if the government was too powerful then the people would have little say in the government. This can also be considered a disadvantage because if the national government was too weak then our country would not work and would collapse, like it did in Shay’s Rebellion. Another advantage is each state having equal representation. This would allow smaller states to have their voices heard. Some disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan were that it had only called for one house of Congress. This is a disadvantage because then the powers and responsibilities of Congress are all forced onto one group. Another disadvantage is that Congress could appoint people to serve in the executive branch. Those people that serve in the executive branch can also appoint people to the U.S. Supreme Court. This means that Congress can appoint someone that appoint the people that Congress wants on the U.S. Supreme Court, and therefore would hold all the power, which would slowly create a corrupt

Madison’s national veto also weakened the Virginia Plan, since the national government’s supreme judgment could only cause resentment by local authorities grappling with purely local issues. To counteract Madison’s bold proposal, delegates from the smaller states, headed by New Jersey’s William Paterson, offered a competing plan, the New Jersey Plan. To its credit, the New Jersey Plan amended the Articles of Confederation by adding a plural executive and a judiciary appointed by the executive branch. The New Jersey Plan proposed proportional representation in both houses of Congress to protect the smaller states. Although the addition of an executive would have strengthened the existing confederation, it resulted in a weak plural head of state. Furthermore, since the New Jersey Plan merely amended the Articles, and since the Articles had never been amended given the necessity of a unanimous vote by all of the states, the Plan was almost certainly doomed to

One advantage that the Virginia Plan had was the view on state representation. The Virginia Plan proposed that the number of representatives

However, this plan favors the larger states such as Virginia when it comes to voting. Article two of the Virginia Plan clearly states that the “rights of suffrage in the National Legislature ought to be proportioned to the Quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants…” If the Virginia Plan were to fully be put in effect, this would mean that smaller states would get little or no say while larger states would dominate.

Of the many plans to structure the government present the two that drew the most attention were the Virginia and the New Jersey Plans. Both of these plans were decimated by members of the convention for various reason. The plan from Virginia was viewed as a structure that would be more beneficial to larger states because it recommended an executive and judicial branches of government in addition to a two chambered congress with all representation based on the population of the state which was less beneficial to smaller states such as New Jersey. While the plan recommend called the New Jersey Plan would be just the opposite of the Virginia Plan since it called for a stronger national government to support the Articles of the Confederation with the ability to tax and regulate commerce between states. The New Jersey Plan also called for a single chambered congress and each state having one single vote. Deliberations lasted many weeks until finally

The Virginia Plan is a document created by James Madison, presented on May 8, 1787, to the Constitutional Convention by Edmund Randolph (Munson). It entailed a proposal for a bicameral legislature, a plan to separate the legislative branch into two chambers, “the National Legislature ought to consist of two branches” (Madison). The Virginia Plan also suggested that the powers of the government be separated into branches, executive, legislative, and judicial. The significance of the Virginia plan was its call for a proportional representation of the states, which would result in a strong national government. This planned upstaged the smaller states, such as New Jersey, since they feared that the states would no longer have a voice in their society, creating the New Jersey Plan.

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.

Madison’s path towards the creation of a new constitution began with the Philadelphia Convention where he presented the Virginia Plan. This plan promised that it would supersede the ineffective Articles that were currently in place, and a new more effective constitution would pick up its role. According to the original Virginia Plan drafted by Madison, some of his ideas included, “Resolved that each branch ought to possess the right of originating acts. Resolved that it is the opinion of this Committee that a national government ought to be