The Virginia Plan was the 1787 proposal for a strong national government whose legislative representation would be based on population or financial contribution. Edmund Randolph presented it to the Constitutional Convention.
The plan was drafted largely by James Madison before the convention met in Philadelphia. It called for a national legislature with two chambers, a national executive, and a national judiciary. Its design gave larger states more influence than smaller states.
Small states objected because population-based representation threatened to reduce their political power. William Paterson answered with the New Jersey Plan, which favored equal state representation in a single legislative chamber.
The convention did not adopt the Virginia Plan exactly. Its ideas shaped the final Constitution, especially the federal structure and separation of powers. The dispute over representation eventually produced the Connecticut Compromise, which created a House based on population and a Senate with equal representation for each state.