Lesson 13: How Did the Framers Resolve the Conflict about Representation in Congress?
The Virginia Plan (Video)
The Virginia Plan was drafted by James Madison before the start of the Philadelphia Convention. Coming to the convention with a well-considered plan was a good idea. The Virginia Plan's idea for a system of federalism and legislative, executive and judicial branches made it into the Constitution. But Madison's plan for proportional representation in both houses of Congress did not.
The New Jersey Plan (Video)
The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia in 1787. The "Great Compromise" combined elements of the New Jersey Plan, put forth by William Paterson, that proposed two representatives from each state regardless of population, with the proposal that representatives be given based on population.
The Great Compromise (Video)
This lesson outlines the disagreement among the states over representation at the Constitutional Convention, and the compromise that saved the Constitution: the Great Compromise.
