The Virginia Plan proposed a three-branch government and representation based largely on population at the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
Presented by Virginia’s delegation on May 29, 1787, the plan called for a national government with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Its legislature would have two chambers, and representation in both would be based on each state’s population or financial contribution.
James Madison was the principal architect of the plan, which was introduced by Governor Edmund Randolph. It aimed to replace the weak national structure operating under the Articles of Confederation with a stronger federal system capable of acting directly on individuals and raising revenue.
Small states opposed population-based representation because it would give larger states more influence. The New Jersey Plan offered an alternative based on equal state representation. The eventual Constitution borrowed the Virginia Plan’s broad structure but resolved representation through a compromise between large and small states.