How the Virginia Plan Influenced the US Constitution

The Virginia Plan was a proposal to establish a two-branch legislature in the newly founded United States. Although the Virginia Plan was not adopted in its entirety, various parts of the proposal were incorporated into the Great Compromise of 1787, which laid the foundation for the creation of the United States Constitution.

Background

After winning the Revolutionary War, the United States established the Congress of the Confederation, its first governing body. Until then, the thirteen former British colonies, now independent, were governed by the Articles of Confederation, which became insufficient to meet the new priorities of the nascent nation.

According to the Articles, each state was represented by between two to seven members who voted as a bloc in congress, granting one vote per state. However, any major decision required a unanimous vote, resulting in a government that was paralyzed and rendered inoperative.

Consequently, it was proposed to reform the Articles and in May 1787 the delegates of 12 of the 13 states (Rhode Island did not send representatives) met to redesign the government through a new Constitution of the United States, conforming what they called the Constitutional Convention.

Two government proposals were considered during the Convention: the Virginia Plan, which distributed representation according to the size of each state’s population, and the New Jersey Plan, which gave each state an equal vote in Congress.

Resolutions of the Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan, drafted by James Madison and introduced at the Convention by Edmund Randolph, outlined a national government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, and with a Legislative Assembly divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. with proportional representation. The document consists of 15 resolutions, which can be summarized as follows:

1. The Articles of Confederation must be corrected and expanded.
2. Voting rights in the National Legislature must be proportional to the Contribution Quotas or the number of free inhabitants.
3. The National Legislative Assembly must consist of two powers: Senate and Chamber.
4. The members of the first branch must be elected by the people of the various States by legislature.
5. The members of the second branch must be elected by those of the first.
6. Each branch must possess the right to originate Acts.
7. A National Executive must be instituted.
8. The Executive and a suitable number of the National Judiciary must compose a Review Council with the authority to examine each act of the National Legislature before it operates.
9. A National Judicial Power must be established, made up of one or more supreme courts, and by lower courts elected by the National Legislature.
10. Provision must be made for the admission of States arising lawfully within the limits of the United States.
11. The United States must guarantee a Government that is faithful to the Republic and that preserves the territory of each State.
12. The continuation of the Congress and its authorities and privileges must be prohibited, until a certain day after the reform of the statutes of the Union is adopted.
13. The reform of the Statutes of the Union must be foreseen whenever necessary, without this requiring the consent of the National Legislature.
14. The legislative, executive and judicial powers must support the articles of the Union, without exception.
15. The amendments that the Convention offers must be submitted to an assembly or assemblies of Representatives.

The Great Compromise or Connecticut Compromise and the Constitution

One of the resolutions of the Virginia plan sparked controversy among the delegates: the one that stated that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers should support the articles of the Union. This implied that state laws could not contradict federal ones.

Ultimately, the Constitutional Convention weighed the benefits and drawbacks of the New Jersey and Virginia plans. Virginia’s plan was supported by delegates from larger states, and New Jersey’s was the preferred choice by delegates from smaller states.

In the end, the delegates took elements of both proposals when formulating the Grand Compromise. This established that the House of Representatives would represent the people according to the population of each state, in accordance with what was proposed in the Virginia plan, but also resolved that all states would vote equally, in accordance with the claims of the New Jersey plan. In addition, he instituted an independent judicial system.

Thus, during the writing of the United States Constitution, the Great Compromise became the way to resolve the dispute between large and small states over representation in the new federal government. With this, once the language and details of the Constitution were decided, the Convention began to do the work of putting it on paper. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates signed the new document.

The new constitution would take effect once ratified by nine of the thirteen state legislatures, since unanimity was not required. Finally, the Congress of the Confederation established March 9, 1789 as the date on which the Constitution would take effect.

Sources

National Archives. Virginia Plan (1787) ., nd

The White House. The Constitution ., nd

United States Senate. The Virginia Plan ., nd