Compare And Contrast Virginia And New Jersey Plan

The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan had many similarities and distinct differences. The New Jersey Plan wanted the Legislative Branch to consist of one house with equal representation from all states. It also stated that the Legislative Branch could collect taxes from the states. The Virginia Plan included details about a powerful Legislative Branch. There would be two houses with membership proportional to the state’s population.

I believe that the Virginia plan is much wiser than the New Jersey plan because it was proportional, or corresponding in size, to the population in state. The best plan is this one because it has two legislative houses (Bicameral), the Senate and the House of Representatives. We each get to vote for the representatives we want. The New Jersey plan only has one Legislative house (unicameral) and it only gets one vote for each state this is what deprived the smaller states from equality. The New Jersey Plan had so many disagreements that it had to appoint a “grand committee” and then it was known as the Great Compromise (An agreement between two or more sides in which each side gives up what some of what it wants).

Final Exam Part I: QA2 The Virginia Plan a New Constitution The Virginia Plan proposed a new Constitution designed as a republic and a strong national government. The most distinguished feature of the plan created structural changes as well as delegated sovereignty to the Federal government and the people. This transfer of power diminished the role of the States in the national government. The Virginia Plan structurally replaced the unicameral Congress by separating federal power among three branches of government, a bicameral legislature, an executive and a judiciary.

1.Northwest Ordinance of 1787- The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 layer out the governmental rules for the Northwest Territory. It stated that three to five states would be formed out of the existing Northwest Territory. The Ordinance contained three stages that the territory would go through in order to form the states. In the first step of the Ordinance the region was completely controlled by the government.

How the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan Effected Representation The idea of equal representation has been debated many times throughout the history of mankind. But equal representation is often not feasible without compromise which is exactly what happened in Philadelphia in the year 1787. The representation that was being questioned was how the small and large states could both be represented equally, and it is not shocked that both the small and large states had a plan of how the representation should work. “The one plan was federal, the other national,” (105)

As the Constitutional Congress were creating America’s new government from scratch, a problem came into their hands. They couldn’t decide whether to have equal representation or representation proportional (corresponding in size) to each state's’ population. Each of them either favored smaller or bigger states. Such as the Virginia Plan, this plan favored big states because it stated that the bigger the population, the more representatives they get. On the other hand, the New Jersey plan favored smaller states because it stated that no matter how big or small the population is, they get an equal amount of representatives.

The Virginia Plan was drafted by James madison and presented on May 29, 1787 by Edmund Jennings Randolph. Randolph, former governor of Virginia, wanted to prevent a crisis in the federal system and felt that revising the federal system would be necessary to create a strong central government that would benefit states with large populations. He thought the federal system should create a two system congress, the House of Representative and the Senate which would control Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The Virginia Plan also composed three separate branches, The Executive Branch, the legislative branch, and the Judicial Branch. However, the constitution didn’t want one branch to overpower the other branches and so it created checks

To whom this may concern, On this 11th day of September, I Edmund Randolph will be presenting my solution to the catastrophes of our uncivilized government. As a citizen of the United States I believe we the body deserve a well organized, well established government that can’t be destroyed by surrounding countries. Here I present to you the Virginia plan. Keep in mind France has had a well organized and well thought out civilized government for many years.

The main divisions at the Constitutional Convention were known as “The Virginia (Large States) Plan” and “The New Jersey (Small States) Plan.” The Virginia Plan was introduced by Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia, on May 29, 1787, at the convention and was prepared by James Madison. Madison, who was a “member of the Continental Congress” (Howard, 2008, p. 12), had faith in the Virginia Plan and thought it would be the best proposal to enforce the laws and assist the government in collecting taxes from the people (Library of Virginia, n.d.). The Virginian delegates planned to “rid the country of the Articles of Confederation, develop two houses of Congress, enact a federal judiciary, give Congress the right to elect a president, and to allow Congress the right to veto the actions of the state” (Schultz, 2010, p. 125).

In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.

It was written by William Patterson. The New Jersey plan favored giving control of the federal government to the states, not the people through their representatives. They proposed a unicameral legislature of only one house. This called for equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives. The New Jersey Plan also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The New Jersey colony gets its own governor for the first time. Lewis Morris is appointed to the position. The New Jersey colony gets its own governor for the first time. Lewis Morris is appointed to the position. The New Jersey colony gets its own governor for the first time.

The plan proposed by Virginia otherwise known as the “large-state plan.” Which proposed “a bicameral legislature, in which the lower house would be elected proportionately and the upper house would be selected from a list of nominees sent from the state legislatures on the basis of equal representation for the states. ”(add footnote) As the smaller states feared that this plan would lose a voice in the federal government if they continued with the Virginia plan, they opposed this plan and came up with one for themselves which would be known as the “small-state plan.” The small-state plan would propose “a unicameral Congress, with equal representation for each state, with all the powers of the Confederation Congress.

After deciding to write a new constitution, the delegates could not decide what new form the government should take. One of the options was the Virginia Plan created by Edmund Randolph and James Madison. The plan included a strong government with three branches (the legislative branch, The judicial branch, and the executive branch). In the Virginia Plan, the legislator would consist of two houses and seats would be awarded on the basis of the population. Due to the fact that the seats are awarded based on population, larger states would have more representatives than smaller states.

In the creating of the US Constitution, the creators hit many roadblocks. It was difficult for the state delegates to decide on much, especially because they were biased and in favor of their own states. The New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan were two examples of the disagreement of representation within the states in the legislative branch. The New Jersey Plan was in favor of equal representation throughout the states. The Virginia Plan was in favor of population representation, meaning the larger states would have more representation than the smaller states.