Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Higareda, Jorge
Professor Starkey
5/7/2017
The Virginia plan was introduce on May 5, 1787 by a Virginian young man named
James Madison that traveled to Philadelphia because he had thought more deeply
about the political problems posed by the current government under the Articles of
Confederation than any other American. His purpose of the plan was to replace the
Articles of confederation due to its future failing. The plan was going to become the
U.S. Constitution: a national government consisting of three branches with checks and
balances to prevent the abuse of power. This later was presented by Edmund Randolph
to the Constitutional convention on May 29, 1787. It was presented into different
sections on how the plan will divide the powers. It was represented for a legislature.
There will only be two houses in which each one will have only one member elected by
the people to represent that house for a three year term only. The other half will be
elected by the state legislature in which those elected will serve a seven year term. The
final idea was to base off the dividing of seats for the states by its population.
The New Jersey Plan was introduced by William Patterson two weeks after The
Virginia Plan was presented to the constitutional Convention to counter propose what
both James Madison and Edmund Randolph had proposed. Some people may know it as
the New Jersey Plan while other may know it as the Small State Plan or Patterson Plan.
This plan did not change much of the idea but only offered the idea of a unicameral
(one house) legislature in which all states would have an equal number of votes. The
New Jersey plan will allow for smaller states to receive the same benefactors the larger
states would receive. William Paterson had hoped that his New Jersey Plan would
address the concerns of both large and small states alike: large states would no longer
need be concerned about the formation of potential alliances and smaller states would
not be penalized on account of their inferior populations.
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Works Cited
"A Great Compromise." U.S. Senate: A Great Compromise. N.p., 17 Apr. 2017. Web. 07 May
2017.
"The Connecticut Compromise Today in History: July 16." ConnecticutHistoryorg. N.p., n.d.
Web. 07 May 2017.
"Virginia Plan (1787)." Our Documents - Virginia Plan (1787). N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2017.
"United States History." New Jersey Plan. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2017.