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Constitutional Law ; Checks & Balances
Constitutional Law ; Checks & Balances
James madison essay on constitution
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The Virginia Plan was a plan drafted by James Madison and was presented by Edmund Randolf. It was presented to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787. According to the plan, a strong central government had three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. The plan also proposed two houses: the first one had members elected by the people for three-year terms; the second one had older leaders elected by the state legislatures for seven-year terms. The role of the plan was important for “setting the stage for the convention.”
These men being known as the founding fathers The Virginia plan was to create a government consisted of what Edmond Randolph proposed that the national government be compiled of a supreme, legislative, executive and judiciary. It was also consisted of 2 houses. The lower house would represent states with the largest population. The members of the upper house would be elected by the lower house making the smaller states have little or no representation in the upper house at all.
The Constitution of the United States, a document setting up America’s government system. When we broke away from the big, bad king of England after the revolutionary war, we strived to create a government unlike the tyranny we had before, a democracy. The Articles of Confederation were created, giving the states more power then the central government. It got the US nowhere, many problems arised, each state which different money systems, different tax laws, and a central government that had no power over the states. Many people knew this government was not working, and most likely would not last long, so a group of individuals (rich white males) came together to discuss a new form of government, around the idea of federalism.
In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.
The Constitutional Convention resulted in many different plans and ideas. The Virginia Plan was proposed by Edmund Randolph, but written by James Madison. The plan stated that people should have representation based on how many people are in their state. Essentially, this boils down to representation based on population. The New Jersey plan was proposed by William Patterson.
The bigger states thought equal representation would be unfair because they wouldn’t be able to represent as many people that lived in the state. 2. The Virginia Plan suggested a strong national government. It said that two governments would go into affect, individual state governments and the national governments. We call this a federal system.
The Virginia Plan proposed getting rid of the articles all together which would give congress the power to legislate with a two house legislature and would be votes would be based off the population of the state. The New Jersey plan on the other hand wanted to tweak the articles, wanted only a one house legislature, and only allowed each state one vote. Between the two, a compromise was made known simply as the Great Compromise. The issue of representation was solved because a two house legislature was decided upon, the senate would represent the states and the house of representative would be responsible for representing the people equally. Now that the government
Ratified in 1781, they outlined the framework for a Congressional government. After a trial period of ten years, the Congress came to the conclusion that the government which had been created by the articles was too weak and needed revision. In May of 1787, delegates from several states convened to begin discussion about a new system. Over the next several months, plans like the Virginia plan, which advocated for a bicameral government, and the New Jersey plan, which advocated for a unicameral government, were put forward. Through a series of compromises, the Connecticut plan, also known as the “Great Compromise,” was adopted.
In the creating of the US Constitution, the creators hit many roadblocks. It was difficult for the state delegates to decide on much, especially because they were biased and in favor of their own states. The New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan were two examples of the disagreement of representation within the states in the legislative branch. The New Jersey Plan was in favor of equal representation throughout the states. The Virginia Plan was in favor of population representation, meaning the larger states would have more representation than the smaller states.
Virginia Plan The Virginia plan was proposed by an Edmund J. Randolph in May 28, 1787. The plan however was written by James Madison, a political theorist. The Virginia Plan was also called the Big State plan because it would mostly benefit the bigger states. The Virginia Plan was the first document to suggest a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, which would all be independent from one another.
Before all this, “The congresses only consisted of one chamber with a certain number of representatives from every states” (Drinan). Congress went from unicameral to bicameral which divided up the congress. The question was about the states having a certain number of representatives. Larger states and states with a higher population supported the Virginia Plan, which was based on the population. The higher population, the more representatives they could have.
The Virginia Plan After events such as the Shays’ rebellion, in 1787, the founding fathers then called in place a constitutional convention to discuss the Articles of Confederation and its future. The constitutional convention on May 25th, 1787, was the beginning of many long and tension filled months that would be needed to articulate the Constitution we know of today. The convention ended on September 17, 1787. During that period, there were many plans that were discussed and argued. The first one mentioned was the Virginia Plan also known as the Randolph Plan, by Edmund Randolph.
The Great Compromise which was founded at the Constitutional Convention wasn't formed without trouble. Many of the delegates that participated in the convention were wealthy landowners and lawyers, who owned many slaves. They failed to notice the diversity that excited within the nation. As they talked how to repair the Articles of Confederation, issues would arise that would create continuous debates amongst each other. One of the issues that would arise would be the nature of the new government.
After deciding to write a new constitution, the delegates could not decide what new form the government should take. One of the options was the Virginia Plan created by Edmund Randolph and James Madison. The plan included a strong government with three branches (the legislative branch, The judicial branch, and the executive branch). In the Virginia Plan, the legislator would consist of two houses and seats would be awarded on the basis of the population. Due to the fact that the seats are awarded based on population, larger states would have more representatives than smaller states.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) refers to the time period when the thirteen established colonies rose up against the British monarchy (newworldencyclopedia.org). For years, the British had taken advantage of those who lived in the thirteen colonies by imposing extremely restrictive taxes, acts, as well as policies that gave the colonists absolutely no governing power. Instead, they were given no representation, which was only one of many reasons colonists decided that it was time for a change. One of the reasons that the British sought to colonize was because it would allow them to increase their wealth.
