What Was The Virginia Plan

497 Words2 Pages

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. This plan also called for two legislative houses, one chosen by the people and the other chosen by the other house. It would enable Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to form a majority in the national legislation, and smaller states soon realized that they would not have much say with this plan. The elected National Executive would then have the authority to execute national laws and taxes.
A Council of Revision will be formed by the Executive and members of the judiciary with the authority to examine, and reject, …show more content…

It was written by William Patterson. The New Jersey plan favored giving control of the federal government to the states, not the people through their representatives. They proposed a unicameral legislature of only one house. This called for equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives. The New Jersey Plan also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
The Powers of Legislation would be vested in Congress and will also have the power to regulate trade and impose taxes. Several people from the congress would then elect people to form an executive office. From there, the executive office would form a Supreme Court. The federal executive is authorized to use force to compel non-compliant states to observe the law. A notable feature would be the Supremacy Doctrine which states the priority of national law over state law.

The Great