The New Jersey and Virginia Plans essays

The New Jersey and Virginia Plans essays The New Jersey and the Virginia Plans benefited both the smaller and larger states as two separate individual plans, with two different missions. The Great Compromise was a major progression towards the unification of all states under a new national government. The fear of creating an administration that was too powerful was the basis for foundation of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles proved to provide a weak government that allowed for most of the power to be under the control of the state legislatures. Under the Articles Congress had no means to prevent war or to provide for national security against foreign invasion. The federal government could not resolve the quarrels between states, regulate interstate trade, collect taxes, or enforce laws. These weaknesses of the confederation distressed political leaders. In response they requested an assemblage in order to revise the Articles and revive the fledgling nation. In May of 1787, representatives from each state gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to find the means of turning the United States government into an efficient and powerful business that conducted affairs in practical ways. The delegates meeting at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 were given expressed consent to alter and revise the Articles of Confederation. With the exception of those from New Jersey and Virginia, the delegates intended to revise the Articles. The first issue that they resolved was that of State Representation. William Paterson and his colleagues offered a list of suggestions for revising the Articles of Confederation in his New Jersey Plan. Paterson, a delegate from New Jersey, favored the weak national government that the Articles created. Paterson declared inequality of the rights of the small states against the large states and wished to expand upon the Articles making a more representative and well-organized government. The Ne...