PROJECT: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

PROJECT: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
Subject: Story of the Constitution
By: Nick

As most of you may know James Madison was one of the more prominent delegates at the constitutional convention. Although he was thinking about the convention before ha had even arrived, it was clear at the end of the convention that the current way of government under the articles of confederation just isn’t cutting it. He felt that there had to be something done to remedy this situation, so later on he would draft a plan that he would present at the convention. He called this plan “The Virginia Plan.” This plan basically made a stronger government that could make as well as enforce laws. The people would be governed by two separate governments, State and National. This type of government is known as “Federal Government.” With this government both houses of legislature would provide proportional representation. What this means is that the more people a state has, the representation a state would have in legislature. Just at this you would find it easy to believe that the larger states favored this plan, for they obviously have a larger population. The smaller states though, were terrified at the plan. If it were to pass they would have virtually no say in government. The debate over the plan would become very heated in very little time. Eventually the smaller states asked for some time to draw up their own plan for government. This plan would be known as “the New Jersey plan.” This plan would only have one house that featured equal representation. Each state gets an equal number of representatives. With this being done, every state would have equal representation in the legislature. Ultimately the New Jersey plan would be rejected for a new constitution altogether. This ‘New’ Constitution was basically the re-incarnation of the old style of government, using a few ideas from the Articles of Confederation.