New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan (also known as the Small State Plan or the Paterson Plan) was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.^[1] Principally authored by William Paterson of New Jersey, the New Jersey Plan was an important alternative to the Virginia Plan proposed by James Madison and Edmund Randolph of Virginia.^[2]

The less populous states were strongly opposed to the bicameralism and proportional apportionment of Congress by population called for in the Virginia Plan. Less populous states were concerned that the Virginia Plan would give substantial control of the national government to the more populous states.^[3] In response, the less populous states proposed an alternative plan that would have retained the one-vote-per-state representation under one legislative body from the Articles of Confederation.^[1] Following the defeat of the New Jersey Plan, Paterson and Madison's proposals were reconciled through the Connecticut Compromise, which combined elements of each to create the current structure of Congress today—a Senate in which states are provided equal representation regardless of population, and a House of Representatives in which representatives are apportioned based on population.^[4]

^ ^a ^b "The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison: on June 15". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.
^ Phillips, Stephen C.; Smith, Alex P.; Licari, Peter R. (2022). "Philadelphia reconsidered: participant curation, the Gerry Committee, and US constitutional design". Public Choice. 190 (3): 407–426. doi:10.1007/s11127-021-00943-5. S2CID 244431495.
^ William Paterson Biography in Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution, a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History. Accessed October 23, 2007. "He was the co-author of the New Jersey (or Paterson) Plan that asserted the rights of the small states by proposing a national legislature that, ignoring differences in size and population, gave equal voice to all the states. The proposal countered the Virginia Plan introduced by Edmund Randolph, which granted special recognition to differences in population and, therefore, favored the large states."
^ Stewart, David O. (2007). The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-8692-3.

[avalon_june_15-1] "The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison: on June 15". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

[phillips-2] Phillips, Stephen C.; Smith, Alex P.; Licari, Peter R. (2022). "Philadelphia reconsidered: participant curation, the Gerry Committee, and US constitutional design". Public Choice. 190 (3): 407–426. doi:10.1007/s11127-021-00943-5. S2CID 244431495.

[3] William Paterson Biography in Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution, a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History. Accessed October 23, 2007. "He was the co-author of the New Jersey (or Paterson) Plan that asserted the rights of the small states by proposing a national legislature that, ignoring differences in size and population, gave equal voice to all the states. The proposal countered the Virginia Plan introduced by Edmund Randolph, which granted special recognition to differences in population and, therefore, favored the large states."

[stewart-4] Stewart, David O. (2007). The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-8692-3.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]