Virginia-Plan

The Virginia Plan was a design that served as the basis for discussion during the Constitutional Convention of the United States of America in 1787. After the Articles of Confederation threatened to fail as a constitution, to 55 delegates from twelve of the 13 countries discussed (Rhode Iceland refused to participate ) in a joint meeting in Philadelphia on the future organization of the State Union. The Virginia Plan consisted of 15 individual proposals, each of which responded a certain aspect of the government system. The plan was given its name by Edmund Jennings Randolph, a delegate of the State of Virginia, who introduced him during the meeting and also the first mustered the proposal to draft an entirely new constitution - originally just a revision of the Articles of Confederation was provided.

One of the main features of the Virginia Plan and also one of the most contentious issues during the meeting, was the design of the legislature. The plan provided for a bicameral system in which both chambers were to be elected in proportion to population. The population of the individual states would thereby choose the lower house directly, which would in turn elect members of the House of Lords. This proposal was criticized particularly by the less populous states, which it feared a loss of power within the central government. As a counter proposal they presented the New Jersey Plan.

The solution to the conflict was found after long debates in the Connecticut Compromise, which also included two chambers. The House of Commons should be composed of representatives directly elected by the people (the present House of Representatives ). In the upper house each State should by exactly two of them nominated delegate representing his (now Senate ). From 1913, the senators had to be directly elected.

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• Content of the Virginia plan according to a report by James Madison (English )

• History of Virginia
• Constitutional History (United States)
• History of the United States (1776-1789)