The Virginia Plan
The Constitutional Convention was tasked
with proposing amendments to the Articles of
Confederation which would make it a more workable plan for national
government. Though the final product of the Convention was a replacement for
the Articles, the first proposal was presented as a series of changes to the
Articles. The list of changes was drafted by James Madison and presented to
the Convention by the governor of Virgina, Edmund Randolph. It became known as
the Virginia Plan. It was presented to the Convention on May 29, 1787
Also of interest are Charles Pinckney’s Plan,
the New Jersey Plan, and the British Plan.
The following text was taken from the Avalon Project’s reproduction of
Madison’s notes from the convention. The text is largely unaltered as
presented here, but spelling has been corrected and abbreviations have been
expanded.
Resolutions proposed by Mr. Randolph in Convention May 29, 1787
1. Resolved that the Articles of Confederation ought to be so corrected and
enlarged as to accomplish the objects proposed by their institution; namely,
“common defense, security of liberty and general welfare.”
2. Resolved therefore that the rights of suffrage in the National
Legislature ought to be proportioned to the Quotas of contribution, or to the
number of free inhabitants, as the one or the other rule may seem best in
different cases. [1]
3. Resolved that the National Legislature ought to consist of two
branches. [2]
4. Resolved that the members of the first branch of the National Legislature
ought to be elected by the people of the several States every — for the
term of —; to be of the age of — years at least, to receive liberal
stipends by with they may be compensated for the devotion of their time to
public service; to be ineligible to any office established by a particular
State, or under the authority of the United States, except those peculiarly
belonging to the functions of the first branch, during the term of service, and
for the space of — after its expiration; to be incapable of reelection
for the space of — after the expiration of their term of service, and to
be subject to recall. [3]
5. Resolved that the members of the second branch of the National
Legislature ought to be elected by those of the first, out of a proper number
of persons nominated by the individual Legislatures, to be of the age of
— years at least; to hold their offices for a term sufficient to ensure
their independency; to receive liberal stipends, by which they may be
compensated for the devotion of their time to public service; and to be
ineligible to any office established by a particular State, or under the
authority of the United States, except those peculiarly belonging to the
functions of the second branch, during the term of service, and for the space
of — after the expiration thereof. [4]
6. Resolved that each branch ought to possess the right of originating Acts;
that the National Legislature ought to be empowered to enjoy the Legislative
Rights vested in Congress by the Confederation and moreover to legislate in all
cases to which the separate States are incompetent, or in which the harmony of
the United States may be interrupted by the exercise of individual Legislation;
to negative all laws passed by the several States, contravening in the opinion
of the National Legislature the articles of Union; and to call forth the force
of the Union against any member of the Union failing to fulfill its duty under
the articles thereof. [5]
7. Resolved that a National Executive be instituted; to be chosen by the
National Legislature for the term of — years, to receive punctually at
stated times, a fixed compensation for the services rendered, in which no
increase or diminution shall be made so as to affect the Magistracy, existing
at the time of increase or diminution, and to be ineligible a second time; and
that besides a general authority to execute the National laws, it ought to
enjoy the Executive rights vested in Congress by the Confederation. [6]
8. Resolved that the Executive and a convenient number of the National
Judiciary, ought to compose a Council of revision with authority to examine
every act of the National Legislature before it shall operate, and every act of
a particular Legislature before a Negative thereon shall be final; and that the
dissent of the said Council shall amount to a rejection, unless the Act of the
National Legislature be again passed, or that of a particular Legislature be
again negatived by — of the members of each branch. [7]
9. Resolved that a National Judiciary be established to consist of one or
more supreme tribunals, and of inferior tribunals to be chosen by the National
Legislature, to hold their offices during good behavior; and to receive
punctually at stated times fixed compensation for their services, in which no
increase or diminution shall be made so as to affect the persons actually in
office at the time of such increase or diminution. That the jurisdiction of the
inferior tribunals shall be to hear and determine in the first instance, and of
the supreme tribunal to hear and determine in the dernier resort, all piracies
and felonies on the high seas, captures from an enemy; cases in which
foreigners or citizens of other States applying to such jurisdictions may be
interested, or which respect the collection of the National revenue;
impeachments of any National officers, and questions which may involve the
national peace and harmony. [8]
10. Resolved that provision ought to be made for the admission of States
lawfully arising within the limits of the United States, whether from a
voluntary junction of Government and Territory or otherwise, with the consent
of a number of voices in the National legislature less than the whole. [9]
11. Resolved that a Republican Government and the territory of each State,
except in the instance of a voluntary junction of Government and territory,
ought to be guarantied by the United States to each State. [10]
12. Resolved that provision ought to be made for the continuance of Congress
and their authorities and privileges, until a given day after the reform of the
articles of Union shall be adopted, and for the completion of all their
engagements.
13. Resolved that provision ought to be made for the amendment of the
Articles of Union whensoever it shall seem necessary, and that the assent of
the National Legislature ought not to be required thereto. [11]
14. Resolved that the Legislative Executive and Judiciary powers within the
several States ought to be bound by oath to support the articles of Union.
[12]
15. Resolved that the amendments which shall be offered to the
Confederation, by the Convention ought at a proper time, or times, after the
approbation of Congress to be submitted to an assembly or assemblies of
Representatives, recommended by the several Legislatures to be expressly chosen
by the people, to consider and decide thereon.
Footnotes
1. Proportional representation was used in the House of
Representatives, as found at Article 1, Section
2.
2. A bicameral legislature was used in the final draft, as
found at Article 1, Section 1.
3. Many of the elements of this section were included in
the final draft and are found at Article 1,
Section 2. Notably not included are: recall, term-limits, and the
post-service waiting period.
4. This section details the precursor to the Senate, found
at Article 1, Section 3 of the final draft. In
the final draft, the Senate was chosen by the states and not the lower house,
and the Senate is not proportional.
5. This section reflects many of the fears of the delegates
to the convention – in particular that the needs of the national government
were being contravened by the states. The final draft does not allow the
override of state laws by the Congress, nor has an explicit authorization to
use force against any belligerent state.
6. The inclusion of an executive was a key provision of the
Virginia Plan, and is a key provision of the Constitution. This is an entirely
new concept for the national government, as the Confederation had no executive
worthy of the name; however, the states all had experience with executives, and
the pros and cons of having one. The method for choosing the executive here is
scant in detail, but is akin to how a Prime Minister is chosen in a
parliamentary system. See Article 2.
7. The power vested here in a Council of Revision exists in
the Constitution in penumbrae only. Article 1,
Section 7 gives the President a veto and specifies that a veto can be
overridden, but the Supreme Court has no explicit power of revision. The
Supreme Court, however, asserted the right of judicial review early in the days
of the republic under the Constitution, as an implied power.
8. The creation of a national court system was another key
provision missing in the Articles of Confederation and included in the final
draft. Some key elements from this section found their way into the final
draft (see Article 3).
9. As the people of the nation reached out toward the
western part of North America, the method of adding new states was rethought.
The Articles had an open invitation to Canada to join the union, but new states
required a supermajority vote of Congress. This section did not preclude the
use of a supermajority, but in the final draft, only a simple majority is
needed to admit new states (see Article 3, Section
3).
10. A republican form of government is guaranteed to each
state in Article 4, Section 4.
11. The Articles of Confederation were found to be
impossible to amend, requiring unanimous consent in Congress to any change.
This section calls for a method of amendment that did not involved Congress.
The Constitution has such a provision, and more, found in Article 5.
12. An oath to support the Constitution, to be taken by
all state and federal officials, was mandated in Article 6.