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Essay on virginia plan and new jersey plan
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The Virginia Plan The purpose of this paper is to defend the argument that the Virginia Plan gave too much power to the national government. On May 29, 1787, Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph proposed what became known as "The Virginia Plan Written primarily by James Madison, the plan outlines of what would eventually become the United States Constitution: a national government consisting of three branches with checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power. 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 houses would use the population as a basis for dividing seats amongst the states. Each of the states would …show more content…
The problem that most states had was that they wanted to keep their individual power they had had; the states didn’t want to give too much power to one national government to prevent tyranny like they had with the king. Every state had only one vote in the congress regardless of their size, each law had to be approved by 9 out of the 13 states to pass. The federal government would have had forced states to “contribute” since they couldn’t regulate trade between states and foreign countries. The central government was weak and the states had too many conflicts during this time.
The Virginia Plan had too much focus on putting power within the central government and tried to rebuild a modified version of what was left the British monarchy, that they might as well have stayed a territory of England. This was the main reason the colonies wanted to break from the empire since it gave the little guys no power at all. Thus, the Virginia Plan gave too much power to the national
The unpredictable failure of the Articles of Confederation to the continental congress was a huge problem. The Articles of Confederation was made so the states would have more power, And limit the powers of the national government. Main contributors for this action was the fear that the national government will gain too much power and overstep its authority.This would have a negative effect on the nation, because tensions will start to rise for the ineffectiveness of this new system of government. A Rebellion best known as Shays rebellion, took place shortly after The adoption of the Articles of Confederation. The states, in which shays rebellion has taken place, were becoming unjust/unfair the way in which the state collected taxes. Since the Articles of Confederation was a complete failure
South Carolina’s decision to invalidate the federal law and deem the tariff unconstitutional was the first blatant disregard for the centralized government. The United States, under Jackson’s presidency, did not unite and support one another in the face of the economic tariff and hardships. Instead, the states nullified (South Carolina in particular) and the individualistic ideals and motivations of the states were exposed. State opinions, such as that of South Carolina were focused solely on their own personal benefit and how they would survive the hardships of the tariff. During the Age of Jackson, there was no unification between the states. The ideals of Jacksonian America were flawed by the growing sectionalism and individualistic ideals. The total equality and unification that Jacksonian America attempted to create was no longer an option. Jacksonian America failed, and in result, did not promote the unified democracy in the United
The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. One of the main weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was its incapability to regulate trade and levy taxes. The states controlled all of their “cash flows.” Sometimes, the states were in debt because of tariff wars that they would engage in with one another.
Under the Articles of Confederation each state had its own sovereignty. And the central government was to provide thing such as national security, treaties, courts, and currency. However the government could not tax. If the states didn't pay their bills to the government there was nothing the government could do about it. This is just one of many reasons why the Articles didn't work. In 1786 Virginia tried to get the Articles modified by holding a meeting known as the Annapolis Conference. This meeting failed because only five states sent delegates. A few months later another meeting was held in Philadelphia.
This task was easier said than done. The fear of creating a government with too much power was a fear that was very much alive throughout the states. Tyranny was a common factor in developing governments, the delegates were seeking to avoid this error. Two ground rules were put into place for the Convention. The first was that any and all deliberations were to remain secretive. The second was that no topic or decisions would be considered closed and could therefore be up for debate and revision at any time. Once these rules were agreed upon, business started. The two contenders were the Virginia Plan, which had the larger states rooting, and the New Jersey Plan, claiming the votes of the smaller states. Under the Virginia Plan, legislature would be two houses and would be represented based on population. Under the New Jersey Plan, legislature would be one house and each state would have equal representation regardless of population. An agreement could not be reached between these two plans, instead a compromise was made. The Great Compromise met each side with an upper and lower house. The upper house was the Senate and would provide equal representation that was elected by the lower house. The lower house was the House of Representatives and would be dispersed based on population of the states. This compromise satisfied the small and large states, giving a
...al Government took full responsibility of unpaid war debts and issued land grants and taxes to repay them. It created a strong central government with a House of Representatives and a Senate to satisfy small and large states. It also divided the power throughout the House to make sure everyone had equal power. With all the states under the same control, they each had equal power and no larger state had more say in an issue then any smaller state did. This law eliminated many disputes between the states over power. With a more organized, and larger army, all of the states were protected and there was no need to worry about goods being stolen when trading with other countries.
During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within its branches and in comparison to the public, and trepidation that the voice of the people would not be heard within the government.
The Congress didn’t hold the power to tax or create a national military, navy, and army, which didn’t allow America to strengthen as a nation. By vesting these powers in the state, the Articles of Confederation technically created thirteen small countries. After the Revolution, the United States became even more susceptible to foreign invaders and if a minute state militia was responsible for warding off these trespassers, the state would be easily attacked. This is just once consequence that could have occurred, if the Constitution of 1787 wasn’t accepted.
Following the failure of the Articles of Confederation, a debate arose discussing how a centralized government ought to be organized. The prevailing opinion ultimately belonged to the Federalists, whose philosophy was famously outlined in The Federalist Papers. Recognizing that in a free nation, man would naturally divide himself into factions, they chose not to remedy this problem by stopping it at its source; instead, they would limit its effects by placing strict structural safeguards within the government's framework. The Federalists defined a facti...
The national government's inability to resist foreign governments convinced many leaders within the thirteen colonies of the need for a new constitution with a stronger national government. Shortly after the convention began in September 1787 delegates elected George Washington to lead the convention and agreed that the meetings would not be made public. The decision for privacy allowed for the consideration of an entirely new constitution, as open consideration of a new constitution would likely have been met with great public outcry. As the convention continued and ideas were being discussed, Virginia's delegates introduced a set of reforms known as the Virginia plan. The Virginia plan proposal wanted a bicameral legislative branch which
By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the new Constitution called for a national Executive, which was strongly debated by the delegates. There were forces on both sides of the issue trying to shape the office to meet their ideology. The Federalists, who sought a strong central government, favored a strong National Executive which they believed would ensure the country’s safety from both internal and external threats. The Anti Federalists preferred to have more power in the hands of the states, and therefore tried to weaken the national Executive. Throughout the convention and even after, during the ratification debates, there was a fear, by some, that the newly created office of the president would be too powerful and lean too much toward monarchy.
The Virginia Plan was written in the year 1787 by James Madison and sponsored by Govenor Edmund Jennings Randolph during the Philadelphia Convention. The plan that was created was the notion of separation of powers into the executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and not favored by smaller states because of population issues. A bicameral legislature was made with houses that are based proportionally off of population in a state. The upper house would be elected by the lower house and the lower house would be elected by the people. Both houses were based on population. The states with a larger population such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts benefited most from this plan. The legislative branch had the power to rebut state laws
The United States should be the strongest country in the world. We, the Virginians and all other neighboring states should stand together to make it the best country, where people have dignity and freedom. In order to make our country better, we have to have a different way of ruling the country, we should have a stronger central government, where wise, politically educated, and experienced candidates are in our government, rather than average citizens make major decisions. Men are ambitious, “men are not angels”, as James Madison said. We, the founding fathers think realistically, not idealistically. If only one man from each state represented the states, the rate of making the wrong decision is way higher. Having a different type of government will allow you, the citizens and the government make the decisions for the country to enhance the rules and overall
Due to the scope of the government the Constitution of Virginia applies to, the responsibilities outlined in it is different than the ones in the Constitution. Obviously, the Virginian government is on a more local scale and will deal with more day-to-day or smaller issues. The biggest example of this is voting. Article II is dedicated to outlining how people register and qualify to vote, how voting takes place, qualifications to run for office, and more. There are federal laws having to do with voting, such as Amendment 26, however, this is in much more detail, since it is the state’s responsibility to hold elections and count votes.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen colonies, or states, had a tremendous amount of control over their affairs, which many people wanted. Conversely, there were also many people who insisted on a strong national government that limited power to the colonies. A compromise was reached by the Founders of the new nation and what is known as the “federal system” was created which balanced the power between the federal, state and local gover...