Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation And The Virginia

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Virginia Plan Submitted by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the Virginia Plan called for the creation of a bicameral, or two-house, national legislature. Each state would send representatives in proportion to the number of its citizens. A state with a large population thus would have more representatives, and greater voting power, than a state with a small population. The Virginia Plan addressed the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation in several ways: 1. The new legislature would have added powers, including the right to tax and to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. 2. The national legislature would have the power to veto, or prohibit from becoming law, any act of a state legislature. Should a state defy national authority, the…show more content…
The plan also ensured that heavily populated states would not overpower the smaller states. The Great Compromise A central difference between the Virginia and New Jersey plans was representation in the legislature. To put it simply, should states with more people have more representatives in Congress? On July 2, the convention voted on this issue. The vote was split and the convention deadlocked. For a while, matters seemed hopeless. Then came the GREAT COMPROMISE – Within several days, a solution --- introduced by Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth – finally emerged. It created a legislative branch made up of two houses, as called for in the Virginia Plan. In one house – the Senate – each state regardless of size would have the same number of representatives (2 per state). This pleased the small states. However in the House of Representatives, the number of seats allowed per state would be based on each state’s population. This won the support of the large states. The Great Compromise was approves on July 16,
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