New Jersey Plan
What Was the New Jersey Plan?
The New Jersey Plan, introduced by William Paterson on June 15, 1787, was a proposal for the United States government structure presented at the Constitutional Convention (David L. Hudson et al., 2022). Also known as the Paterson Plan, it advocated for a unicameral legislature where each state received equal representation regardless of population (Spencer C. Tucker et al., 2014). This proposal served as a direct alternative to the Virginia Plan, which favored larger states through proportional representation based on population size (David L. Hudson et al., 2022).
Circumstances Leading to the New Jersey Plan
Small states feared that proportional representation under the Virginia Plan would allow populous states to dominate the national government (David L. Hudson et al., 2022). Delegates like Gunning Bedford expressed concern that larger states might abuse their power to the destruction of smaller ones (David L. Hudson et al., 2022). Consequently, the New Jersey Plan sought to amend the Articles of Confederation rather than replace them entirely, preserving the principle of state sovereignty and equal voting power established under the existing Confederation Congress (Francis D. Cogliano et al., 2010).
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Key Provisions and Structure of the Plan
The plan proposed a unicameral legislature with expanded powers to levy duties and regulate commerce (Spencer C. Tucker et al., 2014). It featured a plural executive elected by Congress and a federal judiciary appointed by the executive (David L. Hudson et al., 2022)(Shlomo Slonim et al., 2017). Crucially, it asserted that federal laws and treaties would be the "supreme law of the respective States," a concept that eventually formed the basis for the Supremacy Clause in the final U.S. Constitution (David L. Hudson et al., 2022).
Impact and the Great Compromise
Although the New Jersey Plan was defeated in a 7–3 vote, it forced a critical stalemate that nearly dissolved the Convention (Kenneth Janda et al., 2019)(David L. Hudson et al., 2022). This tension led to the Connecticut Compromise, or Great Compromise, which created a bicameral legislature (Shlomo Slonim et al., 2017). The resulting Congress satisfied both factions by establishing proportional representation in the House of Representatives and equal state representation in the Senate, directly incorporating the core demand of the New Jersey Plan (Francis D. Cogliano et al., 2010).
