The Constitution Virginia And New Jersey

The Constitution- Virginia And New Jersey’s Plans Essay, Research Paper In the late 1780s, prominent political leaders in the United States came to realize that the government created under the Articles of Confederation was ineffective and impractical and could not serve a nation in managing relationships among states nor handle foreign nations. The fear of creating a government that was too powerful was the basis for foundation of the Articles of Confederation. It created a weak national government that allowed for most of the power to be under the control of the state legislatures. Under the Articles, Congress had no means to prevent war or security against foreign invasion. The federal government could not check the quarrels between states or regulate interstate trade,

collect taxes, enforce laws. These weaknesses of the confederation distressed political leaders; in response, they requested a assemblage in order to revise the Articles and revive the ailing nation. In May of 1787, representatives from each state gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to find the means of turning the United States government into an efficient and powerful business that conducted affairs in practical ways. The delegates meeting at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 were given expressed consent to alter and revise the Articles of Confederation. With the exception of those from New Jersey and Virginia, the delegates intended to revise the Articles. One of 55 delegates, William Paterson and his colleagues Roger Sherman, Ellsworth, and Dickinson

offered a list of suggestions for revising the Articles of Confederation in his New Jersey Plan. Paterson was a delegate from New Jersey who favored the weak national government that the Articles created. Patterson asserted the rights of the small states against the large states and wished to expand upon the Articles making a more practical and efficient government. The New Jersey Plan suggested the Congress maintain its unicameral house system, with states equally represented. They proposed that the Congress would have the power to regulate interstate trade and could have closely limited power to tax. It also called for a ?federal Executive? with persons appointed by Congress who could be removed on the request of a majority of the state governors. The New Jersey plan also

allowed for a ?federal Judiciary? with a single ?supreme tribunal? appointed by an executive. The New Jersey plan offered a series of solutions to the growing concern that the government was too weak under the Articles. Patterson?s proposals were supported by those who discouraged a strong national government. Just as Patterson created a plan, James Madison created a plan that offered solutions to the flawed Articles of Confederation. Prior to their arrival at the Philadelphia Convention, Madison and the other Virginian delegates formulated a revised document that would eliminate the Articles of Confederation and create an entirely new document. The Virginia Plan called for a stronger national government. The Plan would create a federal system with the existence of two

governments, national and state, each given a certain amount of authority. Under the Virginia Plan, the national government would have the power to collect its own taxes and make and enforce its own laws. The government would consist of three separate branches, the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The legislative branch, under the Virginia Plan, was bicameral, with the number of representatives in each house based on proportional representation, or the number of people in each state. The representatives of the lower house, or the House of Representatives, would be popularly elected and the representatives of the upper house, or Senate, would be chosen by the lower house. Congress would also have the power to veto any state law in conflict with national law, and to