The Boston Tea Party

During the Continental Convention Madison introduced The Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan embodied his principal proposals, including a legislature of two houses with differing terms of office and with representation favoring the large states. He wanted the national government clothed "with positive and compleat authority in all cases which require uniformity. " The upper house of the legislature was to have a veto on the state legislation, and he proposed a national executive. The new government would have the power to enforce its laws.

The Virginia Plan was written by James Madison which was a proposed plan presented by Edmund Randolph. It was more known as the Randolph Plan, which was the plans sponsor. This plan was supported by many of the large states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. This plan was required to have a very strong congress of two houses based on proportional representation. One of the houses would be elected by the people and the other would be elected by the first one.

The first plan is Virginia Plan, which was drafted on May 29, 1787, by James Madison and his fellow Edmund Randolph in the form of 15 resolutions. It was proposed to the Constitutional Convention by James Madison, who was a political theorist, American statesman, and the well-known fourth President of the United States. He was also the father of checks and balances, which helps to prevent the abuse of power between the branches. The Virginia Plan suggested that we should have a bicameral legislature in which contains two chambers. Besides, each state would have representatives based on the population – according to the Plan. This proposal is clearly an advantage for the large states because of their high population. More than that, they are going to have more representatives which means more power.

In 1773 parliament passed the tea act in which the British pay less for tax to ship places. This made the prices of tea lower from Britain. Since Boston's tea would be more expensive nobody would buy it from them. The tea act was just another problem adding up between the colonists and britain. This made the colonists want to be independent from Britain. The colonists decided to rebel and dumb three hundred and forty two chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The act was given the name the Boston Tea Party. Most of the British thought of the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism. Really the Boston Tea Party was just another step to independence for the colonists.

James Madison proposed an idea for how the government should function and the meeting was known as the Virginia Plan. Madison wanted a state government and national government to lead the people into a great country. He was also in favor of the national government because the population of Virginia was large which would give them more representation. Madison also included that the national government would have the authority to enforce and create its own laws as well as collecting taxes. Under the Virginia Plan, the government was divided into the legislative branch,

Benjamin Franklin presented the “Albany Plan” in an effort to help the colonies win the war. This plan suggested the unification of the colonies.

On May 1787 fifty-five delegates met in Philadelphia to attempt to forge a new constitution. Edmund Randolph and James Madison introduced the Virginia plan, while William Paterson introduced the New Jersey plan. The Virginia plan only benefits the large states, but the New Jersey plan gives every state equality. Therefore, the New Jersey plan would be better and fair for the country.

Madison’s national veto also weakened the Virginia Plan, since the national government’s supreme judgment could only cause resentment by local authorities grappling with purely local issues. To counteract Madison’s bold proposal, delegates from the smaller states, headed by New Jersey’s William Paterson, offered a competing plan, the New Jersey Plan. To its credit, the New Jersey Plan amended the Articles of Confederation by adding a plural executive and a judiciary appointed by the executive branch. The New Jersey Plan proposed proportional representation in both houses of Congress to protect the smaller states. Although the addition of an executive would have strengthened the existing confederation, it resulted in a weak plural head of state. Furthermore, since the New Jersey Plan merely amended the Articles, and since the Articles had never been amended given the necessity of a unanimous vote by all of the states, the Plan was almost certainly doomed to

It all began after the French Indian war. Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763, which was a line that restricted the colonist from westward expansion (document 1). Shortly after this the Tea Act was installed. The Sugar Act which was an act that put taxes on sugar and molasses and required them to pay 6 pence per pound (pp 5). A year later the Stamp Act was issued, requiring that colonist pay a tax on every legal documents, papers and playing cards.

Delegates feared that the national government would have too much power over the states. William Paterson came up with the New Jersey Plan. The Plan proposed for changes in the Articles of Confederation that would let Congress regulate trade and tax imports, but would maintain state power. The New Jersey Plan proposed a single legislature, a government that relied on the authority of the state governments, more than one executive and one vote of legislation for each state. The plan allowed each state to keep its independence. The plan did not stop the states from violating foreign treaties, or from entering into treaties, or wars. James Madison was against the New Jersey Plan. Madison insisted that the New Jersey Plan did not improve any of the flaws of the Articles of Confederation. The Virginia Plan was finally approved as the plan to be used to construct the new government. The approval of the Virginia Plan meant that the delegates were now committed to creating a new

During the constitutional convention, two plans were proposed to solve the problem of state representation in the government. The first of the two plans was the Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison and the second being the New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Patterson. Both plans consisted of three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judiciary. however, the New Jersey Plan allowed for multiple executives. Additionally, the Virginia Plan had a bicameral legislature, both houses based on state's’ population or its wealth. The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand, has a unicameral legislature, with its single house giving a single vote to each state

The last factor that influenced the development plan to give a majority of power to the national government is the Legislative Branch that James Madison established. The Legislative Branch would be made up of two congressional houses and representations would be raised on each state population. A quote that declares that the Legislative Branch established by James Madison gave too much power to national governments is in the reading “A more perfect union” when said “The Legislative Branch would be made up of two congressional houses and representation would be based on each state’s population. This quote shows evidence that the Legislative Branch established by James Madison was very supreme. Since they had people from the congressional houses on there side obviously the Virginia plan gave a majority of there power to the national government because of the Legislative Branch established by James Madison.

The men worked in sworn secrecy so that way they'd have the freedom to explore multiple solutions. The first plan to be presented was the Virginia Plan (remembered as the larger state plan), by James Madison. His plan introduced a three-branch structured government made up of a strong executive, judiciary, and two-chamber legislature. Madison's theory proposed the government would operate forwardly on the people, not the states. The smaller state plan (known most notably by the New Jersey Plan), presented by New Jersey delegates, still kept the confederation-feel that was originally given in 1777; still keeping a single house congress, and created a multiple-person-presidency that would be directly elected by congress. It presented congress with taxation rights, and a more forceful grip on the state

The protest took place at night in the Boston Harbor where 116 people, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, stormed 3 British ships and dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. The Boston Tea Party sparked a fire inside colonists and gave them the gumption to convene the first Continental Congress in 1774 to make a list of grievances to Great Britain which lead to the major battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1775 the second Continental Congress was held and it was decided that the Constitution should be written and decided that the colonies would fight for their freedom. This was the start of the American Revolutionary War that would later