Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation

Richard R. Beeman describes the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a “Revolution in Government” because the goal of the Constitutional Convention was not a plan to amend the Articles of Confederation; it was a plan to drastically reform the old form of government, thus, revolutionizing the governing document of that time. The convention set in motion the creation of a completely different form of government. Beeman’s article could also suggest that the relationships between the different politicians was also groundbreaking. For example when “the southern delegates are willing to compromise for the sake of harmony” it shows that they are willing to set aside their differences in order to establish a better form of government for the well-being of the country (Beeman).

How the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan Effected Representation The idea of equal representation has been debated many times throughout the history of mankind. But equal representation is often not feasible without compromise which is exactly what happened in Philadelphia in the year 1787. The representation that was being questioned was how the small and large states could both be represented equally, and it is not shocked that both the small and large states had a plan of how the representation should work. “The one plan was federal, the other national,” (105)

The New Jersey plan was another plan that was presented at the Constitutional Convention. The New Jersey Plan was presented by William Patterson on June 15, 1787. This plan was presented because the small states felt that the large states would control the government and they didn’t want that. One component of the plan was that there would be three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch would be unicameral and only have a one house congress.

The delegates in the smaller states wanted their plan to amend the Articles of Confederation and deter the larger states from controlling the government on a national level (Library of Virginia, n.d.). The New Jersey Plan would serve to make the federal government stronger, and it recommended each state have the right to equal representation. It further stated that the legislature should have two houses with different rules which applied to responsibilities and the amount of time a member could serve for each term (Schultz,

A number of different frameworks were considered but the debate quickly centered around two different plans; New Jersey (aka “Little State”) and Virginia (aka ‘big state”). The major difference between the two plans was in how the “votes” of the 13 states (actually 12 since Rhode Island didn’t attend…) would be counted (based upon population or simple equality of states). In the end Connecticut provide a compromise (aka “Great Compromise”) that took the best of both plans and created a federal republic based on a separation of powers, checks and balances, protection of private property, and the interests of

It was written by William Patterson. The New Jersey plan favored giving control of the federal government to the states, not the people through their representatives. They proposed a unicameral legislature of only one house. This called for equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives. The New Jersey Plan also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison favored the larger states for a two-house Congress to be based on each state’s population. This, of course, was argued about because small states felt as if they would not have enough voice. In disapproval to the Virginia Plan came the New Jersey Plan. This plan argued for a one house Congress, with equal representation. This meant that each state would have the same number of members.

Under this plan, known as the Great Compromise, the

William Patterson presented this plan on June 15, 1787.   They felt this plan was necessary because with the Virginia Plan, the larger states would control the government since they had a greater amount of representatives versus the smaller states, therefore giving them more power.  One part of the New Jersey Plan was that there would be three branches of government.  The three branches were the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia proposed the “Virginia Plan”, which[Proposed] for a new form of government and called for the number of votes each state received in Congress to be based on population rather than each state receiving one vote” (Kelly Munson). The Virginal Plan also favored a bicameral legislature, which was intended to favor the bigger states because representation in both houses would be based on population. To counter this plan, William Patterson proposed the “New Jersey Plan”. Patterson’s proposal favored “the idea of a unicameral legislature in which all states would have an equal number of votes” (U.S. History). In order to resolve the dispute between the bigger states, majority rule, and the smaller states, minority rights, a compromise was

Constitution vs. Articles of Confederation Comparing the Constitution to the Articles of Confederation is really easy. To start off with the articles didn’t have executive branch, meaning no president. The Constitution has a executive branch, and introduced the legislative and judicial branches. National debt was a big threat after the revolutionary war, during the article period it wasn’t payed well, until the constitution the federal government helped pay the national debt, by passing taxes. The voting process was also introduced in the Constitution, compared to the articles the states vote in secret forms.

“Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several orbits.” said John Dickinson, a Delaware Delegate in 1787 (constitutionfacts.com). The United States has a government that, for the most part, flows smoothly. However, our governing documents have not always been so harmonious.

Two different plans, the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan, came into fuse into one and was known as the Great Compromise which helped delegates distribute even representation state to state. The next large issue, and in my opinion the largest was Slavery which was a difficult and as we know lengthy process which eventually was abolished. Southern slave owners wanted slaves to be counted in the population so they could get more representation on larger states, this lead to the Three-Fifths Compromise where slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person when taking poll on the population. This was very important because if slavery was abolished at this point the southern states would of just disbanded from the convention. The last of major compromise was how they were going to decide who would take the chair of president of our country.

Having a weak central government created a whole new set of problems. After analyzing the Articles of Confederation the weaknesses outnumbered the strengths. Such as states not having to obey the laws and ignore taxations because they had no authority to enforce them. Congress did not have the power to collect taxes from the each of the states, that was one major weakness especially during the Revolutionary War because instead of getting the money they had to ask the states for money and the states said no. At that point the government should have put their foot down and enforced a new law, their troops were fighting for their freedom and these people didn’t care.

Congress would work as the court of appeal of last resort in disputes between states. Pinckney also proposed having a supreme Federal Judicial Court. William Paterson proposed the New Jersey Plan, also known as the Small State Plan. The existing Continental Congress would remain, but it would be given new powers, such as the power to charge taxes and force their collection. An executive branch would be elected by Congress.