Compare and contrast the Virginia and New Jersey plans
Virginia delegates who agitated for a bicameral legislative came with the idea of the Virginia plan. James madison conscripted the plan at the moment he was waiting for the quorum to gather at the constitutional agreement of 1787. Virginia plan was known for setting the itinerary of the debate during the concord and more so for setting the idea of populace weighted depiction in the suggested national assembly. Virginia governor, Edmund Randolph officially presented the plan on 29th may after it was drafted. The plan was presented into categories of 15 resolutions. William Peterson made the proposal of the New Jersey plan on the government structure on 15th June 1787. It was created to counter Virginia plan that agitated for congress houses. Virginia craved an election based on the number of the populace. The states with less population were disparate because of conceding most of the control by the government to the more populous states. New Jersey plan because of that agitated for a one vote per state representation under the jurisdictive leading body from the Articles of Confederation.
Virginia and New Jersey plan had a similar structure based on the government branches. Both the plans projected for a government with three arms that included executive, legislature, and the judiciary. New Jersey legislature proposal was powerful since it was bestowed with the mandate to choose those serving in the judicial and executive branch. Virginia proposal bestowed on the legislature the power to pick the executive officials who in turn had the power to choose members of the judiciary. Legislature structure was different in the plans. Virginia agitated for a bicameral legislature that had double rotation ideologies pragmatic to the lower house of the legislature. According to Virginia plan, each of the government representation would be in agreement with the rations of support according to the number of inhabitants in that state. That meant states with many people like Virginia had the advantage of having more people representing them compared to the minor states. States with large number of people braced this proposal while minor states never supported it.
New Jersey plan projected for a unicameral legislature that comprised of one house. Representatives from New Jersey claimed that states were solitary units that were independent when they merged to form the US. They claimed that each state had to be represented by one member in order to ensure equality. The representatives also agitated for articles of confederation amendment. Virginia proposal never gave a specification on the legislature’s terms of office but stated that the members of the legislature would be elected by the people unlike the New Jersey proposal. New Jersey proposal had a provision on the legislature’s term. The legislature had about seven years to accomplish its duty of supporting the national laws.
Virginia and New Jersey proposal differed based on the government’s executive branch. Representatives from Virginia agitated for an executive whose number could not be estimated. Based on Virginia delegate’s point of argument, the executive could only be removed from office by the congress. According to the New Jersey proposal, executive could have more than an individual in office. The majority had the power to remove the decision-making body from the office contrary to Virginia where the power was bestowed on the congress. The power to levy taxes and import duties was bestowed to the government in the New Jersey plan. The Virginia proposal bestowed the national legislature with the powers to make use of armed forces in law enforcement.
Powers of the judicial officers as presented in the two proposals differed. Virginia delegates argued that members of the judiciary were to have life tenure. The judiciary had the power to veto lawmaking in convention of the review. Delegates from Virginia proposed the judiciary; in order have a mechanism of overseeing the checks and balances thus preventing the abuse of power. The mechanism of overseeing the checks and balances was not provided for in the New Jersey proposal although they argued that judiciary must have life tenure. Judicial review was termed ambiguous since no selected provisions were in place. The judiciary comprised of appointed judges and one supreme tribunal judge as argued by Virginia delegates. The powers based on impeachments and revenue collection was bestowed on the judiciary. New Jersey representatives proposed a judicial system that comprised of judges appointed by the executive. The powers pertaining to determining cases on ambassador’s right and impeachment of various federal officers was bestowed on the judiciary. Judicial officers were exempted from holding any type of government office while serving their term. The federal government got more powers based on the New Jersey proposal as it allocated most of the functions and duties to the federal government. Some of the functions that were bestowed to the federal government included law enforcement and regulating most of the duties such as tax collection.
