The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress with representation based on state population in 1787.
Edmund Randolph presented the proposal at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on May 29, 1787. James Madison had drafted much of it, and the plan sought to replace the weak national structure created by the Articles of Confederation with a stronger federal government.
The Virginia Plan proposed three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Its legislature would have two chambers, with representation in both based largely on population or contributions. That approach favored populous states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, which would have gained greater influence than they held under the Articles’ one-state, one-vote system.
Smaller states objected and supported the New Jersey Plan, which retained equal state voting in a single legislative chamber. The convention eventually adopted the Connecticut Compromise: population-based representation in the House of Representatives and equal representation for each state in the Senate. Thus, the Virginia Plan was not adopted intact, but it shaped the Convention’s agenda and the Constitution’s structure.