New-Jersey-Plan
The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government proposed by William Paterson on June 15, 1787. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan's call for two houses of Congress, both elected with proportional representation.[1] The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the larger states, and so proposed an alternate plan that would have given one vote per state for equal representation under one legislative body. This was a compromise for the issue of the houses.
When the Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise) was constructed, the New Jersey Plan's legislative body was used as the model for the United States Senate.[2]
Under the New Jersey Plan, the organization of the legislature was similar to that of the modern day United Nations and other like institutions. This position reflected the belief that the states were independent entities, and, as they entered the United States of America freely and individually, so they remained. The New Jersey plan also gave power to regulate trade and to raise money by taxing foreign goods.
Ultimately, the New Jersey Plan was rejected as a basis for a new constitution. The Virginia Plan was used, but some ideas from the New Jersey plan were added. For example, in the Senate each state would be represented equally while the House of Representatives votes would be distributed according to population.
References
- ↑ William Paterson, United States Army. Accessed October 23, 2007. "He was co-author of the New Jersey (or Paterson) Plan that asserted the rights of the small states by proposing a national legislature that, ignoring differences in size and population, gave equal voice to all the states. The proposal countered the Virginia Plan introduced by Edmund Randolph, which granted special recognition to differences in population and, therefore, favored the large states."
- ↑ Constitutional Convention of 1787, Princeton University. Accessed October 23, 2007. "The Connecticut Compromise, which broke the deadlock, proposed a lower house, elected in proportion to population, and an upper house, in which each state, regardless of size, would have equal representation."