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The Virginia delegation quickly took the reins after arriving in Philadelphia. Virginian James Madison issued a detailed critique of the Articles of Confederation entitled “Vices of the Political System of the United States,” and further argued that confederations were, by their very nature, doomed to failure.³⁴ Most significantly, the group of Virginia delegates met every morning at a local boardinghouse to plot strategy for how to convince the other delegates to construct a new constitution rather than merely amend the Articles of Confederation. They also met each afternoon to greet arriving delegates.

The drafting of the Constitution was, after all, a distinctly political process, which involved consensus on some issues (such as the need for a limited, republican form of government) and conflict on others (such as what system of representation to adopt). Ultimately, compromise (on issues such as slavery, representation, presidential selection, and the court system) and creativity (the embrace of federalism, for example) led to success. Keep these “4 Cs” in mind—consensus, conflict, compromise, and creativity—as you read the rest of this chapter.

Virginia Plan A plan, favored by large states, to replace (rather than amend) the Articles of Confederation and create a strong national government consisting of three branches. It also called for replacing the one-state/one-vote system used under the Articles of Confederation with proportional voting power in the legislature.

Once the convention formally assembled on May 25, Virginia’s power became immediately evident. The delegates unanimously chose Virginian George Washington as its presiding officer. After the group had established the rules of the convention, Edmund Randolph, the head of the Virginia delegation, rose and introduced his delegation’s proposal for a new constitution, the result of the daily strategy sessions they had held. This so-called Virginia Plan, primarily authored by Madison and consisting of 15 draft resolutions, was designed to replace rather than amend the Articles of Confederation and to establish a strong central government consisting of three branches: a bicameral legislative branch, an executive branch, and a judicial branch (see Figure 2.1).

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Figure 2.1 Central Government Under the Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan called for members of the lower house of the legislature to be elected by the citizens of each state. Members of the lower house would, in turn, select members of the upper house. In addition to replacing the unicameral legislature that existed under the Articles of Confederation with a bicameral legislature, the Virginia Plan also called for the replacement of the one-state/one-vote system with proportional voting power in both houses: the number of representatives from each state would be based on the state’s population, and each of their representatives would have one individual vote. This new voting plan would increase the power of more populous states at the expense of less populous states. It also raised a nasty question: Were slaves to be included when counting the population of a state? Bluntly put, were they to be counted as people or property?³⁵

Small states strongly opposed the Virginia Plan. On June 9, William Patterson of New Jersey stood and proclaimed that he was “astonished” and “alarmed” at the Virginia Plan’s proposal to base a state’s voting strength on its population.³⁶ He then introduced an alternative set of proposals that came to be known as the New Jersey Plan, aimed at merely amending the Articles of Confederation. It, too, called for three branches, but unlike the proposals under the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan called for maintaining a unicameral legislature, a weak executive branch comprising multiple officers (elected by Congress and subject to removal only upon majority vote of the state governors) rather than a single president, and a Supreme Court whose members would be elected by the executive officers (see Figure 2.2). Representatives to the legislature would continue to be chosen by state legislatures rather than being elected by the people. The New Jersey Plan also retained the one-state/one-vote system, thereby garnering support from small states.

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Figure 2.2 Central Government Under the New Jersey Plan