The Constitutional Convention
By Trevor Turner
Event Information
The Constitutional Convention
When?
Friday, May 25, 1787, 08:00 AM
Where?
Philadelphia, PA, United States
The Convention
By 1786, the people of America began to realize that the Articles of Confederation was not a good form of government and needed to be changed. So the 13 states sent there delegates to the Convention in Philadelphia. Not all states attended, as for the state of Rhode Island did not attend. Along with a few other delegates not being able to attend there were over 55 delegates. There were two main plans that the states had come in with, The Virginia Plan, and the New Jersey Plan.
The Virginia Plan
The Creator of the Virginia plan was James Madison, but was presented by Edmund Randolph. The Plan ultimately benefited the bigger states because, they wanted to change it to were each state got a number of votes based on population, rather then each state getting one. It was to protect the interest of the large states and to make a whole new form of government, rather then just amending the Article of Confederation (AOC). They also took ideas from a Enlightenment thinker to have a separation of powers by having three branches of government. The three branches would be Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
Virginia Plan Supporters
James Madison
Born March 16, 1751
George Washington
Born February 22, 1732
He was the first President of the United States and he is a supporter of the Virginia plan.
New Jersey Plan Supporter
William Paterson
Born December 24, 1745
He was the second governor of New Jersey and he is the one who presented the New Jersey plan in the convention.
Luther Martin
Born February, 1748
He was the main creator of the New Jersey plan and he refused to sign the Constitution as he felt it violated state rights.
The New Jersey Plan
The plan was introduced by a New Jersey delegate, William Paterson. The main creator of the New Jersey plan was Luther Martin. The New Jersey plan did not want to completely make a whole new government, it just wanted to amend it. It also was the counter option to the Virginia plan, along with protecting equality amongst the smaller states. It keeps each state with one electoral vote, so the vote is not based on population but just one vote per state. They still have the government being split into three branches.