Edmund Randolph presented the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Randolph, Virginia’s governor and a delegate to the convention, introduced the plan on May 29, 1787. The proposal called for a stronger national government with a legislature organized around representation based largely on population. It also envisioned separate executive and judicial branches and a national authority able to act directly on states and individuals in certain areas.
James Madison had prepared much of the plan before the convention and helped develop its ideas, which is why the proposal is often closely associated with him. Randolph’s presentation formally placed it before the delegates, making him the answer to who presented it.
The Virginia Plan became the starting point for debate, but it was not adopted unchanged. Smaller states objected to population-based representation, leading to the Connecticut Compromise, which created a House of Representatives based on population and a Senate with equal state representation.