At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, who introduced the Virginia Plan?

Edmund Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan at the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Randolph presented the plan on May 29, 1787, in Philadelphia. It proposed replacing the Articles of Confederation with a stronger national government organized into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Its legislature would have two chambers, with representation based largely on population or financial contributions.

James Madison helped draft the plan and was a major intellectual force behind it, which is why he is often mistakenly identified as the person who introduced it. Randolph, Virginia’s governor and a convention delegate, formally placed the proposal before the convention. The plan became the starting point for much of the ensuing debate.

The convention eventually rejected the Virginia Plan’s original representation formula after smaller states objected. The Connecticut Compromise created a House of Representatives based on population and a Senate with equal representation for each state. The final Constitution retained the plan’s broad three-branch structure but changed several of its details.