Pros And Cons Of The Constitutional Convention

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).

"The Virginia Plan" (May 1787), authored by James Madison and Edmund Randolph, contained several proposals that represented objections for some individuals who ultimately refused to sign the Constitution. These objections centered around concerns over the proposed structure of government and the balance of power between the states and the central government. One proposal in the Virginia Plan that raised objections was the establishment of a bicameral legislature with representation based on population. This provision would have given larger states, with higher populations, more influence and power in the legislative branch. Smaller states, fearing their interests would be overshadowed by larger states, objected to this representation model,

Constitutional Convention The beginnings of the Convention (pre-constitution) began when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented and defended a plan for a new structure of government (called the "Virginia Plan") that had been chiefly drafted by fellow Virginia delegate, James Madison. The Virginia Plan called for a strong national government with both branches of the legislative branch apportioned by population. The plan gave the national government the power to legislate "in all cases in which the separate States are incompetent" and even gave a proposed national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures. Delegates from smaller states, and states less sympathetic to broad federal powers, opposed many of the provisions in the Virginia Plan.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution since the United States of America was formed. This constitution wasn’t helping the states and was causing many arguments between them. After Shay’s Rebellion, when the farmers got mad about having high taxes and heavy debts, even though Shay’s Rebellion didn’t succeed it proved that something has to be done to the Articles of Confederation. What do you think the conclusion will be after the states do something about the Articles of Confederation? The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan helped create the constitution.

The Continental Congress received the Articles of Confederation, which was the principal Constitution of the United States starting on November fifteenth, 1777. On March first, 1781, the governement became successfully changed thanks to the Continental Congress sending the Articles to the states. Patriotic leaders, drove by James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Wilson, very quickly started moving in the direction of fortifying the federal government. The Articles constructed a frail central government alongside a loose confederation of sovereign states, departing majority of the power with the state governments. The Patriotic leaders transformed a progression of provincial business meetings into a national

This plan proposed that there would be a unicameral legislature, which would give each state one vote, just like the articles of confederation had. There would also be an executive branch with more than one officer that held little power, instead of just one president, and a supreme court. Since this plan kept the one-state/ one-vote system, it was strongly supported by small state. This plan also had opposition, and it was clear that a compromise needed to be made between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey

The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison favored the larger states for a two-house Congress to be based on each state’s population. This, of course, was argued about because small states felt as if they would not have enough voice. In disapproval to the Virginia Plan came the New Jersey Plan. This plan argued for a one house Congress, with equal representation. This meant that each state would have the same number of members.

To keep their traditional lifestyle they moved further west. The task of creating a new government was not easily accomplished. Disputes among the delegates nearly ended the Convention on several occasions. For example, delegates from the large and more populous states disagreed with those from the small states about representation in the national legislature. The larger states favored the Virginia Plan, under which population would determine the number of representatives a state could send to the legislature.

At the Constitutional Convention, our founding fathers met to reconstruct the Articles of Confederation, not knowing that they would create the United States Constitution, an entire new format of government. They wanted to create a government that was powerful yet restricted in certain ways, in order to create equal representation for all people. Three main compromises were made at the Constitutional Convention. These compromises were The Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.

5 Introduction The Constitutional Convention was called to order so that the Articles of Confederation could be amended. However, the Founders soon realized the Articles of Confederation provided an insufficient platform of which to erect necessary safeguards of democracy including, separation of powers, and federalism. Establishing a new constitution was not an easy feat. Many different clashing ideas would have to be weighed, measured, and agreed upon.

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.

The constitution was a collaboration project where several different people and ideologies worked together to form a fair and just government in the colonies. Due to the large number of different ideas battling for dominance within the formation of this new government, compromise had to be made. This level of compromise allows the modern interpreter to find the existence, both in large and small ways, of the ongoing battle in regard to individual and civil rights in every part of the document. These contributors had very different ideas about the concept of ‘rights’ and more specifically, their ideal level of priority within a society. Locke, Rousseau, Paine, Dickinson, Madison and Blackstone all had varying ideas of what this balance should

Daniel Webster once said, “The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions,” meaning that the constitution prevents higher ranking people to carry out a plan for the benefit of themselves or others. The Constitution was written in 1787, it is a set of laws that the people, government, and any form of leader would have to follow. It also guards against tyranny, meaning it prevents harsh absolute power in the hands of one individual like a king or a dictator, or when several generals or religious leaders seize control. Tyranny can also be caused by the many, the majority denies the rights of the minority. The “Constitution Mini-Q, page 95” wrote, “for Madison and his few delegates, the challenge was to write a constitution that was strong enough to hold the states and the people together without letting any one person, group, branch, or level of government gain too much control.”

Obviously, smaller states were not pleased with that plan. They thought that larger states could easily overrule them in congress. So William Paterson created a plan called the New Jersey Plan. It as well had the same three branches but, the plan provided legislators to have only one house. Each state would only one vote in the legislator, regardless of the population.

History is written by the victors, is a common saying used to describe the inequality of information available from different viewpoints of an issue. This idea holds true when it comes to the United State’s Constitution. For years, American students are taught all the positives of the document with little attention to the negatives. But those against the ratification of the Constitution, the Anti-federalists, had valid issues with the Constitution, some of which are still relevant almost 230 years in the future. The Constitution, legally speaking, shouldn’t even have been created.