The Virginia Plan, presented by James Madison and introduced by Edmund Randolph on May 29, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention, was a bold proposal that sought to replace the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation (AOC) with a stronger national government. It was a response to the critical challenges facing the United States, such as the inability to raise revenue, regulate commerce, and enforce laws under the Articles. This plan set the stage for significant debates during the Constitutional Convention, particularly regarding the balance of power between large and small states (Bamzai 2022).
At the core of the Virginia Plan was the idea of a powerful national government that would operate with three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Madison’s vision for the new government called for a national government with the authority to act directly on individuals, bypassing the states, which had been a key issue under the Articles of Confederation. This system of checks and balances was designed to prevent any one branch from gaining too much power, a concept that would later be central to the U.S. Constitution (National Archives, 1787). The proposal also suggested a bicameral legislature with both chambers' representation based on population, which was viewed as essential to ensuring that the larger states had more influence in the legislative process.
The bicameral legislature would consist of two chambers: the lower house, which would be directly elected by the people for a term of three years, and the upper house, which would be selected by state legislatures for a term of seven years. This structure was designed to balance responsiveness to the public with stability provided by the upper house, which would be composed of more experienced members (U.S. Senate, 2021). The population-based system of representation, central to the Virginia Plan, was seen as a fair way to ensure that larger states, with their greater population and resources, would have a stronger voice in shaping national policies.
However, this proposal created tensions among smaller states. Delegates from states like New Jersey and Delaware feared that under the Virginia Plan, they would be overshadowed by the larger states, which would dominate both chambers of the legislature. This concern led to the development of the New Jersey Plan, which advocated for equal representation regardless of population size. The debate between these two plans would eventually lead to the Great Compromise, which merged elements from both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans and resulted in the bicameral legislature we have today, with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate providing equal representation for each state (Estes 2011).
The Virginia Plan also proposed a national executive, which would be selected by the national legislature. This executive could consist of one or more individuals and would have significant powers, including the ability to veto legislation passed by the legislature. However, the legislature could override the veto, thus creating a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch from gaining too much control. This proposal aimed to address the lack of a strong executive under the Articles of Confederation, where there was no central authority capable of enforcing laws or ensuring compliance (Madison 1787). The executive would be tasked with enforcing national laws and overseeing the execution of decisions made by the legislature, reflecting Madison’s belief in the importance of a strong central authority to act decisively.
A crucial element of the Virginia Plan was the creation of a national judiciary, which would include one or more supreme courts and lower courts. The judicial branch would handle cases involving national laws, treaties, and disputes between states. The courts would be independent of both the legislative and executive branches, ensuring that no single branch could dominate the government. The judiciary’s independence was crucial to maintaining a system of checks and balances, a key principle that would later be enshrined in the U.S. Constitution (Bamzai 2022).
One of the most radical proposals of the Virginia Plan was the idea that the national legislature could override state laws that conflicted with national interests or the Constitution. This would have granted the national government the power to act directly on individuals, bypassing state authority. Madison believed that this power was essential to ensure the stability of the Union, especially given the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, where the national government lacked the authority to enforce its laws or ensure compliance from the states. The ability to override state laws would ensure that national priorities could be enforced and that states could not act in ways that undermined the broader interests of the Union (National Archives, 1787).
The Virginia Plan’s call for proportional representation and a strong national government was seen by Madison as a necessary response to the failures of the Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles, the national government had been weak, unable to raise revenue, regulate interstate commerce, or provide for the common defense. Madison argued that the Articles were inadequate because they relied on the states to enforce national policies, which often led to discord and inefficiency. The Virginia Plan sought to remedy this by creating a government that could act decisively and ensure that national policies were carried out effectively (Bamzai 2022).
The proposal for population-based representation was also grounded in Madison’s belief in republicanism, which emphasized the idea that government should be based on the consent of the governed. He believed that a national government based on population would be more democratic and responsive to the needs of the people, as larger states with greater populations would have a proportionally greater voice in shaping national policy (Estes 2011). However, the larger states’ desire for proportional representation was viewed as a threat by smaller states, who feared being dominated by more populous states. This tension between the larger and smaller states was one of the primary issues that led to the development of the Great Compromise (U.S. Senate, 2021).
Though the Virginia Plan was not adopted in its entirety, its influence on the Constitution was profound. The central features of the Virginia Plan, including the establishment of a bicameral legislature, the creation of a strong executive branch, and the establishment of an independent judiciary, were incorporated into the final document. The Virginia Plan's proposal for a national government with the power to act directly on individuals also paved the way for the concept of national supremacy, which was later affirmed in landmark Supreme Court cases such as *McCulloch v. Maryland* and *Gibbons v. Ogden* (Bamzai 2022). These cases solidified the vision of a strong central government that could regulate interstate commerce and ensure the supremacy of national law over state law, a key aspect of the Virginia Plan’s vision for the nation.
The Virginia Plan marked a fundamental shift in the understanding of federalism in the United States. It proposed a government that was far more centralized than the system under the Articles of Confederation, where the states retained significant power and autonomy. By contrast, the Virginia Plan envisioned a strong national government that could act decisively in the interests of the entire country, particularly in matters that affected the Union as a whole. This vision of a strong federal government would become a defining feature of the U.S. Constitution, which sought to balance the needs of the national government with the protection of state sovereignty (National Archives, 1787).
In retrospect, the Virginia Plan was a transformative moment in American constitutional history. Its proposals for a stronger national government, a bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary would shape the eventual structure of the U.S. Constitution. While not all of its provisions were adopted, the Virginia Plan’s emphasis on a strong, centralized government, along with its system of checks and balances, played a pivotal role in the creation of the modern American state. The legacy of the Virginia Plan endures in the Constitution’s structure and in the ongoing debates over the balance of power between the national government and the states (Madison 1787).