Virginia Plan

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A proposal set forth by Virginian delegates during the Constitutional Convention, the Virginia Plan (also known as the Large State Plan) set forth the idea of population-weighted legislative representation. It consisted of 15 resolutions, each covering a specific aspect of the proposed system of government.

These resolutions formed an agenda for the ensuing debate of the convention, and in broad outline described the topics covered in the resulting constitution. However, many details of the plan were altered by the convention. The Virginia Plan was created by James Madison of Virginia and was officially proposed to the constitutional convention by Edmund Randolph; therefore, both houses were based on population). Large states supported this plan, and smaller states, which clearly stood to lose substantial power in the national government, generally opposed the proposal, preferring the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan also created three bodies of government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch. The Virginia Plan's proposal of legislation based on population was later compromised with the New Jersey Plan's opposing ideas, resulting in a bicameral system--the House of Representatives being the direct result of the Virginia Plan, and the Senate that of the New Jersey Plan.