What was the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention?

The Virginia Plan was a proposal for a new system of national government presented at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Drafted primarily by James Madison and Edmund Randolph, it called for a supreme national government featuring three distinct branches and a bicameral legislature based on population-weighted representation. The plan set the overarching agenda for debate and was ultimately selected as the basis for the new United States Constitution.

What we know

• The Virginia Plan was proposed at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and called for a supreme national government with three branches and a bicameral legislature. [2]
• The plan was drafted by James Madison and Edmund Randolph. [2]
• The Virginia Plan set the overall agenda for debate and introduced the concept of population-weighted representation in the national legislature. [2]
• The Virginia Plan was selected as the basis for the new government during the Philadelphia Convention. [4]

Still open

• While the New Jersey Plan was proposed in response to protect small state interests, the exact mechanics of how to resolve proportional representation disputes delayed convention progress for weeks.

Where to go next

• compared withWho were the key figures behind the New Jersey Plan?
• what caused itHow did the Connecticut Compromise resolve legislative disputes?
• whoWhat role did James Madison play in shaping the new government?
• whereWhere did the Constitutional Convention take place in Philadelphia?
• the bigger pictureWhat broader events led to the Federal Convention of 1787?
• an unexpected connectionHow did state constitutional conventions in Virginia evolve over four centuries?Although the famous 1787 Virginia Plan shaped the federal constitution, Virginia also held its own separate sequence of state constitutional conventions spanning four centuries that addressed local issues like voting rights and massive resistance.

Sources

• [1]Virginia Plan (Wikidata Q1044176) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Virginia Plan · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Constitutional Convention (United States) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Virginia Conventions · CC BY-SA 4.0