Virginia Plan: Background
• The Virginia delegation took the initiative
to frame the debate by immediately
drawing up and presenting a proposal, for
which delegate James Madison is given
chief credit. It was, however, Edmund
Randolph, the Virginia governor at the
time, who officially put it before the
convention on May 29, 1787.
• The scope of the resolutions, going well
beyond tinkering with the Articles of
Confederation, succeeded in broadening the
debate to revisions to the structure and
powers of the national government.
• The resolutions proposed, for example, a new
form of national government having three
branches (legislative, executive and judicial).
• One contentious issue facing the convention
was the manner in which large and small
states would be represented in the
legislature, whether by equal representation
for each state, regardless of its size and
population, or proportionate to population,
with larger states having more votes than
less-populous states. Under the Articles of
Confederation, each state was represented in
Congress by one vote. It was also unicameral
Virginia Plan: Representation
• POPULATION!!!!
• There more citizens a state had the more
representatives that state would have in the
legislative branch.
Virginia Plan: Organization of
Government
• 3 Branches
• Legislative
– Makes laws (congress)
– 2 houses (bicameral)
• Executive
– Carry out (enforce)
• Judicial
– Interpret Laws (judge in law okay and if broken)
– judge laws
Virginia Plan: Powers of Government
• Strong central government
– (compared to weak Articles of Confederation)
Virginia Plan: President
• 3 person “executive”
– Appointed by Congress
Remember, the Framers were not so much
“inventors” as they were chefs/bakers.
They argued over the ingredients they
wanted to put in to their Cookie… their
Constitutional Cookie.
The Virginia Plan was like the larger
populated states saying they wanted
chocolate chip in their Constitutional
Cookie.