In 1787, James Madison and Edmund Randolph, worked on a plan to modify the US
government. This plan was soon known to be the Virginia Plan, which favored the national
government. The Virginia Plan argued the need to replace the Article of Confederations with a
government with three branches, which consists of the National Legislative, National Executive,
and the National Judiciary. The three branches must meet the goals of protecting, ensure freedom,
and provide welfare to the people. Most of all, the plan argued for a Legislative branch with
representative from each states either by their population or the amount of money the states have.
The National Legislative branch can control states and veto laws that endanger the well being of
the country. The National Executive will be able to enact laws to be national laws and review
every laws pass by the National Legislative branch before it becomes official. The National
Judiciary branch was also able to review all laws passed by the National Legislative branch.
Randolph also stated in the Virginia Plan that The National Judiciary must have at least one or
more supreme terminals. Furthermore, the inferior and supreme terminal should trial any cases
regarding national problems that affects the country's well being. With this plan the citizens of
Americans would be more connected to the national government rather than the state
government. Thus, corrupt officials would have less chance of being elected to office.
In 1787, William Peterson drafted the New Jersey Plan in response to the Virginia Plan.
Peterson argued in his plan that each states must have only one vote by one representative from
every states, which favored the states. The Legislative branch has the power to control bad states
that threaten national interest. The Legislative branch shall be given more power in a few
situations. Furthermore, Legislative branch shall be given the authority to use force to control
states and the power to veto state laws. In addition, Legislative branch is also empower to control
taxes and collect the money. The Executive can be removed by impeachment and the executive
can also be removed through the demand of the majority of executive from the states. Peterson
also argued that the National Judiciary should have one type of terminal to trial cases involving
national well being with the exception of some cases. The other terminal should only take care of
appellate jurisdiction. With this plan, more power will be given to the state government than the
national government. It will balance the power between national and state government, which the
Virginia Plan want to take away from the states.
In 1787, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth drafted the Great Compromise. The Great
Compromise combined ideas from the Virginia plan and the New Jersey plan. The Virginia Plan
support large states in representation and the New Jersey plan support representation in small
states. Delegates at the convention argued whether representation in congress should be based on
population or states. According to the Great Compromise, Congress should consists of a House
of Representative and the Senate. The House of Representative should be represented by the
population from each states, which favors large states. While the Senate should be equally
represented with two seats by each state. This supported small states, which had small population.
Furthermore, the Great Compromise empowered only the House of Representative the power to
create tax laws. With the Great Compromise, the elements from the Virginia and New Jersey
plan created the three branches of government. The small states and large states could also be
represented fairly in congress.
Bibliography
Alchin, Linda. "The Great Compromise." Government-and-Constitution. Accessed March 28,
2015. http://www.government-and-constitution.org/us-constitution/greatcompromise.htm
"Constitutional Topic: The Constitutional Convention." U.S. Constitution. Accessed March 28,
2015. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_ccon.html#madison.
Greenberg, Edward S., and Benjamin I. Page. The Struggle For Democracy. 2012 Election ed.
New Jersey: Pearson, 2014.
"The New Jersey, or Paterson, Plan." Gale U.S. History in Context. Accessed March 28, 2015.
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/PrimarySourcesDetailsPage/PrimarySourcesDetailsWindo
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"The Virginia, or Randolph, Plan." Gale U.S. History in Context. Accessed March 28, 2015.
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/PrimarySourcesDetailsPage/PrimarySourcesDetailsWindo
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