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Film Analysis: A More Perfect Union America Becomes A Nation

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A More Perfect Union America Becomes a Nation is a reenactment of the creation of United States Constitution. In the Beginning of the movie, starting in 1787, James Madison of Virginia called a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, knowing that he intends to completely abolish them. During the Convention John Adams is being an ambassador for the United States in London, England. Adams is talking to the secretary about how the Crown was constricting the United States trade and they were still occupying America; the United States had no strong government to prevent it, and the Crown won’t take them seriously until they get one.
Madison thinks that George Washington is the key to making this convention successful, and is the only …show more content…

Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia, proposes a new plan, that James Madison wrote, called the Virginia Plan or “ the large states plan.” This plan suggests that a new national government should be established, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive, and judiciary, also completely abolishing the Articles. The plan passes and the states agree to get rid of the Articles, even though the small states make sure their unhappiness with the document is clear. Another problem arises within the Virginia Plan and it has to do with voting representation in Congress and is called “the great issue.” The Virginia Plan state that the votes should be based on population, which the smaller states completely disapprove of. Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, argues that the lower house should be based on population, but the upper house would have one vote each, so that all of the states would get what they want. The large states don't agree. So then Patterson, from New Jersey, writes up “The New Jersey Plan,” which is basically the exact same concept as the Articles and the plan gets shot down quickly. They propose a committee that is to create a compromise,this compromise is named “The Connecticut Compromise”, or “The Great Compromise” and that compromise is that the lower house will be counted by population, the upper house will have two senators that will have one vote each. This compromise passes in

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In 1978, two plans were put forth regarding how each state in the union would be represented in the national legislature. The two plans put forth were the, “Virginia Plan” (which favored big states), and the “New Jersey Plan.” (which favored small states) Edmund Randolph of Virginia proposed the Virginia plan. The plan laid out a system in which states would be represented in the national legislature based on their population and/or by how much revenue they contributed to the national government.

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54 Words | 1 Pages

all states were represented equally in the Senate. This made the smaller states happy. In the House of Representatives, representation was based on population. This pleased the bigger states. The Great Compromise settled the method of representation in the legislative branch.

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There would still be a bicameral legislature in congress, but instead the upper house, the House of Representatives, be provided proportional representation with every thirty thousand peoples equaling up to one representative. This suggestion was adopted from the Virginia plan, which pleased the large states. In the lower house, the Senate, the compromise was two representatives per state, despite population. This equal representation reflected the New Jersey plan, which pleased the smaller states. The Great Compromise fulfilled some of the requests from both proposed plans and was accepted

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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

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The Great Compromise would seek sure to that. The Great Compromise would make sure that all states had an equal vote in the Senate. All states were allowed two votes in the Senate (Doc. D). As for the House of Representatives, every tate had their number of representatives based on the population of that state (Doc. D). As in, every State would receive no more than one representative for every thirty-thousand (Doc. D).

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The Virginia Plan, created by James Madison, proposed that the Articles of Confederation to be “scrapped” or thrown out, and that the people would make a new National Government which has the power to make laws binding upon the states, to raise its own money through taxes, and to regulate trade throughout the states. The mayor, Edmund Randolph, introduced this plan. It was wildly popular throughout the states and was put into effect. It was significant in creating our new government simply because it got rid of the Articles of Confederation. It made it possible for the federal government to not only gain money from tax from the states, but it also impacted the creation of our new government.

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508 Words | 3 Pages

His beliefs were not preferred by the majority, however(2). The convention deliberated over a way to come up with a equal representation for both small and big states(5). Franklin helped break the standoff and pave the way for what became known as the "great compromise(2). " bigger states would have their way in the lower house of the legislature, where representatives would be chosen according to majority. The upper house or Senate would have the same number of senators from each

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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.

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186 Words | 1 Pages

Under the Articles of Confederation, each of the thirteen colonies was represented in Congress with one vote. When the framers created the Constitution, there were discussions surrounding whether each state should have votes proportional to the state’s population or should each state have equal representation. The larger states favored the Virginia Plan (which was based on population) because this would give them greater control in Congress. The smaller states were concerned about losing power in Congress so they supported the New Jersey Plan (which gave each state equal representation). After much debate over the two plans, a compromise was adopted that created a bicameral Congress.

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The Virginia Plan was an idea to organize two chambers for a legislative branch. Each states would be portrayed by numbers. States with a vast population would win over a small state due to representation. Larger states will most likely find this more optimal than small states because of the community.

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298 Words | 2 Pages

The plan proposed by Virginia otherwise known as the “large-state plan.” Which proposed “a bicameral legislature, in which the lower house would be elected proportionately and the upper house would be selected from a list of nominees sent from the state legislatures on the basis of equal representation for the states. ”(add footnote) As the smaller states feared that this plan would lose a voice in the federal government if they continued with the Virginia plan, they opposed this plan and came up with one for themselves which would be known as the “small-state plan.” The small-state plan would propose “a unicameral Congress, with equal representation for each state, with all the powers of the Confederation Congress.

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168 Words | 1 Pages

The Constitutional Convention was arranged for the “purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation” (208). As a result, it was concluded that the power of this great nation should fall in the hands of a “direct authority” rather than within each state (209). Additionally, the national government must provide the Constitution as the representation of the people’s voice and their rights. Consequently, the New Jersey plan became in effect in which equal representation amongst the states in a “unicameral (one-house)” (210).

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On the other hand, there was much controversy as to how the upper house, the Senate, should be numbered. Many different delegates brought forth plans and ideas, which were debated and time and again rejected. On July 5, 1787 Conneticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth presented the “Connecticut Compromise” which took parts from previously offered plans. The plan, which would later be commonly referred to as the “Great Compromise”, conceded to the House of Representatives being structured as noted above, and the Senate being comprised of two delegates per state, regardless of size (1787: A Great Compromise, n.d.). As it was already the idea of the Framers that the Senate be the higher house, with more tenured delegates not so easily influenced by their constituents, and therefore acting more in the interest of the nation, it was argued that all states have equal say in the Senate.

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1593 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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570 Words | 3 Pages

It not only required compromises but it also initiated controversy between the states over who had the most influence and representation in congress. The bigger states wanted population as their representation, while the smaller ones just wanted equality and their voices heard in congress. (2)Amid the verbal skirmish, a man named Roger Sherman ended it and proposed that two houses, one senate and one representative, be established.(4) Silencing the disagreements, Sherman’s idea led to what would be known as the Great Compromise. Now the south had slaves in their hands and wanted them to make up part of the population, and the north was opposed.

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