On the 29th of May, 1787, Edmund Randolph proposed The Virginia Plan, also known as

the Randolph Plan, after its sponsor. The plan was recognized for producing the idea of
population-weighted representation in the proposed national legislature in the form of 15
resolutions. Its purpose was to form a new approach towards governing by introducing
three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The legislative members would
have the power to nullify state laws if it isnt coherent with the other articles of union.
However, legislative acts could be vetoed by the executive and selected members of the
judicial branch, ensuring a fair system. This plan benefited the states with larger
populations such as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and of course Virginia, as they would
out-vote the smaller populated states. Because of this, a new plan was introduced to
favor the smaller population, The New Jersey Plan.
The New Jersey Plan states that each state would have their individual legislature
regardless of size under the Articles of Confederation. William Paterson presented this
plan in response to the Virginia Plan on the 15 th of June, 1787. The unicameral
legislature, which means one legislature position only, was inherited so that states with
larger and smaller populations have equal representations in voting. The plan also
includes the executive branch, that could be re-elected by the majority executives of the
states to take action upon the states that do not comply with the rules, and the federal
judiciary who are elected by the executives to deal with national matters such as
treaties. Furthermore, the national government is also responsible for collecting taxes
from trades while the state government are not as important. Nonetheless, the plan was
rejected and this made the smaller states more discontented and after much dispute,
discussions were reopened to create the next new plan.
The Great Compromise was made in the dispute between the previous two plans and
thus gave every state two congress houses, having equal representation in one and
proportional representation in the other. It also has three branches, legislature, which is
further divided into 2 smaller branches, Senate and House of Representation. However,
unlike the other plans, the executives are the leaders while the judiciary took control of
the court. After all that, the federal government of the state has to approve before
anything is executed. The plan was finally finalized and voted on July 16th, by Roger
Sherman and has positive response thereon after.
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