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The delegates gather in Philadelphia to fix the Articles of Confederation, but Madison argues the system is too broken to repair. This section introduces the Virginia Plan as a proposal for an entirely new government.
Speaker A
In the summer of 1787, delegates from 12 of the 13 states met to discuss ways to amend, reform or fix the Articles of Confederation.The result though was not fixes, reforms or amendments to the Articles Confederation, but the creation and approval of a new government altogether.And that's what we're going to start discussing here today in this video.
So at this most critical of times for the Articles, the delegates meet in Philadelphia.And the first plan out of the gate for fixing the Articles was the Virginia Plan, authored by James Madison, a delegate from Virginia and future president.He had his idea for fixing the Articles had two steps.Step one, completely get rid of the Articles of Confederation.Step two, make something completely new.
It was in Madison's estimation that the Articles were so fundamentally broken that an entirely new system needed to be put in place.In other words, it was easier to demolish and rebuild than to repair.
So what was this something completely new?Because it's one thing to say that.It's one thing to say, well, we need to get rid of this thing.You can say that, but if you're going to, you also should have a plan for what to replace the thing you're getting rid of with.And Madison had that.
It was called the Virginia Plan.So the Virginia Plan not only said let's get rid of the Articles, but it also said here's what we should replace it with.
The Virginia Plan lays out three branches of national government, a bicameral legislature, and a stronger federal system. It also gives major advantages to larger states through population-based representation and expanded national powers.
Speaker A
The something completely new was three branches of government on the national level.Most of what Madison creates here is a revamp of the national government.Three branches of government, whereas the Articles only had one, the legislative branch, executive branch and judicial branch.The legislative branch Congress would be bicameral or two houses.Whereas the Articles government was unicameral or one house.
And the purpose of this legislative branch would be to make laws.Whereas under the Articles it was mostly foreign policy, right?Because that it was one branch, this bicameral Congress.Again two houses.The lower house would be elected by the people, the upper house elected by the lower.
The number of people in both houses would be determined based on the non slave population of each state.Thus the large population states like New York or Massachusetts or Virginia would basically control the branch because they in both houses would have the majority of the representatives.
The second branch is the executive branch.One person to enforce the laws and act as commander in chief.So legislative branch makes the laws, executive branch enforces them.In Madison's Virginia plan, this one person person, this one executive would be elected by Congress.And which type of state controlled Congress?The large population state.So therefore they also essentially had control over the choice of presidency or president, third branch, judicial branch, to interpret the laws when meaning was uncertain.
Essentially a system of federal or national courts established with a Supreme Court at the top.The courts were split into districts across the nation.So you have one Supreme Court and then layers of courts underneath it.
The judges of the Supreme Court in particular would be selected by Congress.You sense the pattern here because again, this would be the large population states in charge.So this new form of government would be dominated by the large population states.The new government as laid out by Madison, the Virginia Plan would have a lot more powers than the than the Articles, the confederation, Congress did.In particular taxation, currency, trade, regulation and the power to deal with internal disturbances.Those were all now be powers of the national government, whereas under the Articles they could only deal with foreign policy.Now, the big four that we discussed under the Articles that were was power of the states.That's now a power of the national government under the Virginia Plan.
The speaker explains the broader significance of Madison's proposal and compares it directly with the Articles of Confederation. The comparison highlights the shift to three branches, bicameral Congress, and representation based on population.
Speaker A
There were other things in this plan, but they're not as the same importance for our purposes as what I just discussed.And there's other things that don't get approved down the road.
This caused much debate upon being presented and the small states hated it immediately.But the ultimate, and I'll circle back to this, but the ultimate significance here of the Virginia Plan is that most of what Madison proposed, at least the bare bones or the frame of the new government, became the basis of the new government under the Constitution.Obviously with some changes.But the Virginia Plan essentially laid the foundations of what became the next United States government.Three branches, the powers and roles of the branches.
The a system of checks and balances to make sure that no one branch was too powerful, those kind of things.So the small states hated it.First, here's a comparison of the Articles and the Virginia Plan.On the left you have the Articles.On the right, the Virginia Plan.
So you see the Articles.One branch, one house of Congress, unicameral.No limit on the number of representatives, but only one vote per state.Virginia plan, three branches.Legislative Congress make laws.Executive president enforce laws.Judicial courts interpret laws.Two houses of Congress, bicameral lower house, House of representatives, upper house, the Senate, number of members of each house based on state population, the free white population.And there's even more limits on that, but we'll discuss that later.The lower house chosen by popular vote, the upper house chosen by the lower house.
Small states respond with the New Jersey Plan, which keeps a unicameral Congress and equal state voting. It preserves much of the Virginia Plan's structure while pushing back against population-based dominance.
Speaker A
So those are those two plans, the small state counter to this because obviously they didn't like this.So they're going to issue a plan As a response to Virginia and the lack of power for the small population states, this is the New Jersey plan.
It was sort of a middle ground between the articles in the Virginia plan.And it agreed with most of the Virginia plan, except largely for Congress and the representation and choosing of the representation within it.The main differences with the Virginia plan, Congress would go back to being unicameral and would also have one state, one vote.So even though New York would have more delegates than, say, New Jersey, they would only have one vote per state.Also, representation would be equal, so there wouldn't even be the discrepancy in the number of representatives.
So representation, each state would have the same number of representatives in the unicameral single house Congress.But again, everything else, there's the basic structure, right?The three branches, the powers of the government.They didn't have a problem with that.This was about Congress, representation, and the role of the small versus the large population states.
Once again, a comparison.Articles on the left, Virginia on the right, New Jersey down the middle.So the three branches for the New Jersey plan, same as the Virginia.But you see, the bottom part is one House Congress, unicameral, one vote per state.And then the one sort of, sort of original thing here is equal representation for each state.
So they would have the same number of Representatives, whether it was 2, 3, 4, 1, whatever.No matter how many though, one vote per state.
The convention debates these competing plans for over a month, especially over representation and congressional voting. The speaker closes by emphasizing that the delegates are moving beyond the Articles and toward compromise.
Speaker A
So debate raged over these plans for over a month as they worked toward a compromise.The largest debate was over the structure of Congress, representation and voting in Congress, as well as how do you choose each branch.The significance thus far of the Constitutional Convention or the Philadelphia Convention is that the idea of fixing or keeping the Articles was abandoned very quickly.The majority of the delegates realized that the system, that Madison was right, the system could not be fixed to a satisfying place.So they're going somewhere new.
But you got to solve these debates.
So what we'll look at next.
Is the compromises.