What was the name of the 1787 proposal for a stronger U.S. national government?

The Virginia Plan was the 1787 proposal for a stronger United States national government.

James Madison drafted much of the plan, and Virginia governor Edmund Randolph presented it to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on May 29, 1787. It proposed replacing the weak government under the Articles of Confederation with a national government having executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

A central feature was representation based mainly on population or financial contributions. That approach favored larger states, which supported it because they expected greater influence in a population-based legislature. Smaller states objected and responded with the New Jersey Plan, which preserved equal voting power for each state.

The Convention did not adopt the Virginia Plan exactly. Instead, debate over it helped produce the Connecticut Compromise: population-based representation in the House of Representatives and equal state representation in the Senate. The plan therefore shaped the Constitution even though its original structure was revised.