The Virginia Plan was drafted by James Madison and presented at the Constitutional

Convention in 1787. The plan called for a strong central government where a
national government comprised of three branches held a majority of lawmaking
ability and held power over state governments. He proposed a bicameral legislative
branch where two houses of representatives were provided in relation to a states
population. This gave states with larger populations like Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
Massachusetts more power in passing laws. It called for a judiciary branch
consisting of a few judges and a single representative to be appointed to the
executive branch. Both of which would be determined by a state legislature vote.
The executive elected was subject to a term limit and would not be eligible for reelection after his term is up. The Judiciary branch and the executive branch would
be responsible for vetoing state law.

William Patterson drafted the New Jersey Plan as a response to the Virginia Plan.
Patterson and New Jersey Plan supporters thought of a stronger national
government where a two house congress that would be comprised by equal
representation per state rather than by population. Each state would assign one
representative for each house and each state was only offered one vote in each
house. It called for an executive branch to be consistent of a committee of officials
elected by a state legislature vote. The executive branch would oversee the
military and enforce national law. The judicial branch was expected to be a broad
and oversee several aspects of national and state law. The New Jersey plan would
put in place a national law that would supersede state sovereignty. It also asked to
put in place a population tax as well as tariffs and other policies that would regulate
inter-state trade and trade with foreign countries.

The Connecticut Plan, or the Great Compromise, was the result of combining ideas
from both the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. It was drafted by Roger
Sherman a representative of Connecticut and it accounted for equal representation
to both larger and smaller states. The House of Representatives would be made up
of a number elected officials determined by a states population. The Senate would
be a house comprised of seats that are distributed evenly between states by
electing 2 representatives per state. The plan was amended to account for 3/5 of
the slave population. This compromise laid the framework for the legislative branch
we see today. It quickly became agreed upon that the Executive branch should be
held by single representative but it was debated how he should be elected. The two
sides eventually came to an agreement on how to elect representative to the
executive and decided that the Electoral College should elect the President. The
Judicial branch would interpret the law and has oversight on congressional
legislation or executive orders deeming them constitutional or unconstitutional.

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