Ratifying the Constitution
How the government is run
The Articles of Confederation
• It was an agreement among the 13 founding
states that established the U.S. as a nation and
served as its first constitution.
• It gave validity to the Continental Congress to
direct the American Revolutionary War,
conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with
territorial issues and Indian claims.
– The confederation type of government proved to
be too weak and in 1789 it was replaced by the
federal government with the adoption of the U.S.
Constitution.
The Virginia Plan
• The Virginia Plan (also known as the LargeState Plan) was a proposal by Virginia
delegates, for a bicameral legislative branch.
• The plan was drafted by James Madison
• He setting forth the idea of population-based
representation in the proposed national
legislature – because they paid more taxes
• States with a large population, like Virginia
(which was the most populous state at the
time), would thus have more representatives
than smaller states.
• Large states supported this plan, but smaller
states, feared losing power in the national
government
The New Jersey Plan
• The New Jersey Plan (also known as the Small
State Plan) was a proposal for the structure of
the U.S. Government
– The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan's
• The less populous states were opposed to giving
most of the control of the national government
to the larger states
• The alternate plan that would have given one
vote per state for equal representation under one
legislative body (i.e., a Unicameral Legislature).
The Connecticut Compromise
• The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement
between large and small states reached during
the Constitutional Convention of 1787 it defined
the legislative structure and representation that
each state would have under the Constitution.
• It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed
by James Madison, along with proportional
representation in the lower
house(congressmen), but required the upper
house to be weighted equally between the
states.(senators)
The Three-Fifths compromise
• It was a compromise between Southern and
Northern states reached during the
Philadelphia Convention of
• Three-fifths of the population of slaves would
be counted for record purposes regarding
both the distribution of taxes and the
apportionment of the members of the U.S.
House of Representatives.