Word: virginia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...typical of Madison that he had come to Philadelphia eleven days early, the first outsider there. As the opening was delayed, Madison met daily with the other Virginia delegates to work out what came to be known as the Virginia plan, a blueprint for the Constitution and thus the basic agenda for the convention. His ideas were fairly representative of liberal opinion in his time. He was deeply suspicious of executive authority, of anything that smacked of monarchism. He believed profoundly in the sovereignty of the people and in their civil rights. But he was worried that political groups tended...
...ceremonial opening on May 25, the Rules Committee spent the weekend organizing its procedures, which were formal and parliamentary -- and included an important provision that no vote could prevent the delegates "from revising the subject matter of it when they see cause." Then, although Madison had probably drafted the Virginia plan, Governor Edmund Randolph was given the honor of introducing it. It took him more than three hours...
...Virginia plan envisioned replacing the Confederation with a strong national government. This government would be dominated by a bicameral legislature elected by proportional representation, i.e., more seats for the more populous or wealthier states. There would be a national "executive," but the executive's only function would be to carry out the wishes of the national legislature...
...Virginians pushed their plan through to a vote of approval within two weeks. Not only had they drafted the blueprint, but they had also created an alliance of the three most populous states, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, with three Southern states that expected to grow rapidly, Georgia and the Carolinas, a sort of proto-Sunbelt. But since the rules of the convention stipulated that no preliminary votes were final, any question could be reopened, and new delegates kept arriving (New Hampshire's team came two months late, and the last Marylander only...
...attack on June 9 by proposing a reconsideration of proportional representation. "New Jersey will never confederate on the plan," he declared. "She would be swallowed up. I will never consent to the present system . . . Myself or my state will never submit to tyranny or despotism." The supporters of the Virginia plan were no less vehement. "Are not the citizens of Pennsylvania equal to those of New Jersey?" demanded James Wilson of Pennsylvania. "Does it require 150 of the former to balance 50 of the latter? . . . If the small states will not confederate on this plan, Pennsylvania would not confederate...