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There would be 2 houses. One with members that will be elected by the people and they would have 3 year terms. Another with older leaders that are elected by state legislatures and they would be on 7 year terms.

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Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

On May 29, 1787, Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph proposed what became known as "The Virginia Plan." Written primarily by fellow Virginian James Madison, the plan traced the broad outlines of what would become the U.S. Constitution: a national government consisting of three branches with checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power. In its amended form, this page of Madison's plan shows his ideas for a legislature. It describes 2 houses: one with members elected by the people for 3-year terms and the other composed of older leaders elected by the state legislatures for 7-year terms. Both would use population as a basis for dividing seats among the states.

The Virginia Plan went through several revisions before it was finalized. These "Variant Texts" of the Virgina Plan are available at Yale Law School's Avalon Project.

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Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. On May 29, 1787, Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph proposed what became known as "The Virginia Plan."

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There would be 1 house of legislature and the number of representatives would be the same through all states. This plan would make it so smaller states would have equally as much power as the other states.

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Why was the New Jersey Plan formulated? What was the Virginia Plan?
The New Jersey Plan was formulated by New Jersey delegate William Paterson in response to the Virginia Plan (aka the Big State Plan) that had been proposed to the Constitutional Convention on May 28, 1787. The Virginia Plan had broadened the debate of the conference from revising the Articles of Confederation to including what form the structure and power of the national government should take take. The Virginia Plan had advocated a strong National Government that could collect taxes and make and enforce laws . It was based on a national and state government system with a Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The proposals featured a bicameral legislature (two houses) consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate and a system of proportional representation.

New Jersey Plan: Opposition to the Virginia Plan
The smaller states opposed the Virginia Plan because the resolution for proportional representation would mean that smaller states would have far less say in government than the large states. Adoption of the Virginia Plan would mean that each state would have a different number of representatives based on the state's population - the more people a state had, the more representatives it would have in the legislature. On Thursday, June 14, 1787, William Paterson of New Jersey requested his fellow delegates at the Constitutional Convention to allow the opportunity to develop an alternate option for the structure of the United States Government.

Reason for the New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan was therefore formulated by delegates from the small states providing alternative ideas for a new government system as a response to the Virginia Plan to prevent the large states becoming too powerful.

Who wrote and proposed the New Jersey Plan?
The delegates of the small states of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Delaware agreed the New Jersey Plan which had been drafted by William Paterson. It was proposed to the Constitutional Convention by William Paterson on June 15, 1787. William Paterson (1745 - 1806) was a lawyer and the Governor of Virginia who introduced and defended the New Jersey Plan to the Convention's delegates. William Paterson believed in the predominance of law over governments.

What did the New Jersey Plan Propose?
The New Jersey Plan proposed a unicameral legislation (one house) consisting of a single Congressional legislative body in which each State would have an equal number of representatives. Judge William Paterson had hoped that his New Jersey Plan would address the concerns of both large and small states. The small states would not be penalized on account of their smaller populations and the large states would no longer need be concerned about the formation of potential alliances. The eleven resolutions of the New Jersey Plan contained many points and basically included the following:

Resolution 1:

Called for "a union of the States merely federal" reflecting beliefs that the states should have more power than the National government (for more info refer to Federalists and Anti-Federalists)

Resolution 2:

The articles of the confederation ought to be revised, corrected and enlarged

Resolution 3:

The federal Government ought to consist of a Supreme Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary

Resolution 4:

The Powers of Legislation (meaning authority to make, alter and repeal laws) ought to be vested in Congress

Resolution 5:

Additional powers given to congress to pass laws applying duties (taxes) on foreign goods and regulation of trade and interstate commerce

Main points of other Resolutions

Congress should be given the authority to collect taxes from states based on the number of free citizens and 3/5ths of slaves in that state but this power requires the consent of some proportion of the states (term limits of representatives stated

Who Opposed the New Jersey Plan?
The large states opposed the New Jersey Plan because of the resolution for proportional representation. The opposition was led by was opposed by James Madison and Edmund Randolph who had presented the Virginia Plan.

The Significance of the New Jersey Plan
The Significance of the New Jersey Plan was:

The New Jersey plan favored giving control of the federal government to the states, not the people through their representatives

The New Jersey Plan proposed a unicameral legislature of only one house

The New Jersey Plan called for equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives

The New Jersey Plan , like the Virginia Plan, also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches

The differing proposals made by the Virginia and New Jersey Plan led to the Great Compromise

Some elements of the New Jersey Plan were adopted by the Convention and written into the Constitution

New Jersey Plan of the Constitution

New Jersey Plan - Constituton - Summary - Definition - Constitution - Government - Constitutional - Meaning - History - American - US - Government - USA - New Jersey Plan - America - Dates - United States - Kids - New Jersey Plan - First - Children - Schools - Government - Homework - Important - Facts - Historical - Government - Fun - Interesting - Info - Government - Information - New Jersey Plan of the Constitution

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Why was the New Jersey Plan formulated? What was the Virginia Plan? The New Jersey Plan was formulated by New Jersey delegate William Paterson in response to the Virginia Plan (aka the Big State Plan) that had been proposed to the Constitutional Convention on May 28, 1787.

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The Great Compromise it says that in the House Of Representatives that the amount of representives for each state would be decided on the states population. In the Senate all states would have the same number of seats.

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Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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The Connecticut Compromise – Today in History: July 16 | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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On July 16, 1787, a plan proposed by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention, established a two-house legislature. The Great Compromise, or Connecticut Compromise as it is often called, proposed a solution to the heated debate between larger and s…

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The Connecticut Compromise – Today in History: July 16

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Yates was born in Schenectady, NY on January 27, 1738. Yates was also in New York's supreme court. He was recognized as a leader for anitfederalists.

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He was born in Newton, MA and later he was married to Elizabeth Hartwell in 1749. He was in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789 - 1791 and Senate from 1791 - 1793.

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He was born in Scarbora, MA in 1755. He was elected to the legislature from 1789 - 1790. In the former year he was elected to be in the one of the U.S senators. He was reelected to senator in 1795

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He was born in at Exeter in 1755. He was a federalist politician. He was in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789 - 1797. He was also in 1793 and 1797 he was a presedential elector.