Week 4, Question 2

7/7/2014

Read Ch 12 – 14 (105-127) and answer the following questions/statements:

· What were the advantages and disadvantages of the Virginia Plan? What were the advantages and disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan? Do you think the Great Compromise was a good solution to the problem of representation? Why or why not?

23 Comments

Lucy

7/14/2014 07:23:57 am

An advantage of the Virginia Plan was that it proposed a strong national government that could collect taxes and make laws that was impossible under the Articles of Confederation. A disadvantage was that it wanted a proportional representation that favored the larger states.

An advantage of the New Jersey Plan was that it had the power to regulate trade among the states and other nations. This prevented one state from ruining the reputations of the others. Although it also proposed equal representation which favored the small states.

I think that the Great compromise was a wonderful solution because they used both equal and proportional representation. Plus the two houses check each other, that way there is a safety net for the safety net and one won't have more power than the other. Even though the House of Representatives has slightly more power by picking what laws to make and propose it is still fair.

Claire

7/14/2014 10:28:00 am

Before the convention started, James Madison and William Patterson each came up with a plan for the national government. James Madison's plan was called the Virginia Plan. One advantage of the Virginia Plan was having a strong national government. Also under the Virginia Plan, there would be two governments, individual state governments and a national government. Also under the Virginia Plan there would be two houses in the national legislature instead of one. A disadvantage of the Virginia Plan was that the larger states would be favored because of the proportional representation.

William Patterson's plan was the New Jersey Plan. This plan also had some advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of the New Jersey Plan was the congress would appoint several people to work in the executive branch and the executive branch would appoint the members of the U.S. Supreme Court. This encouraged the branches to all work together. Another advantage of the New Jersey plan was Congress would have the power to regulate trade among the states with other nations. One disadvantage of the New Jersey Plan was it favored smaller states with equal representation.

I think the Great Compromise was a really good way of solving the problem with representation. It used both equal and proportional representation which kept everyone happy. This way larger states would have slightly more influence when creating the laws but the smaller states could check the larger states by rejecting or changing taxes and spending bills that the House passed.

Lucy

7/14/2014 11:06:28 am

I agree with Claire, having the executive branch appoint the justices of the Supreme court would make them more apt to work together nicely. It would also allow the Justices to make rulings without having to worry about being reelected since they are just nominated and don't have to win over voters.

Devyn

7/15/2014 12:37:32 am

The Virginia Plan had it's good and bad, but that's with everything. An advantage was having the ability to make laws that wouldn't be allowed with the Articles of Confederation. Taxation was included. A disadvantage was giving more power to larger states through proportional representation. This plan favored larger states.

The New Jersey plan has it's good and bad too. An advantage was having many people elected in the executive branch. Many people means diverse opinions, which is good for a developing government. A disadvantage was equal representation. This means no matter the size, each state had the same amount of power. This point of view favored smaller states.

The Great Compromise was a brilliant solution. Although the larger states had slightly more power, the smaller state equalized it by having the power to check the larger states.

Devyn

7/15/2014 12:40:40 am

I agree with Lucy. Although the House of Representatives has more power, it's fair because the Senate gets the power to check and see if it's constitutional. Even though they get less, it all works out.

Devyn

7/15/2014 12:43:52 am

I agree with Claire. The executive branch and the Supreme Court would work together more easily with there being nominations instead of votes. When you're elected, it's like you have to stick with one opinion your entire term. With a nomination, you're free to think whatever you want. This would keep tension to a minimum.

Clara

7/15/2014 02:33:56 am

The Virginia and New Jersey Plans were ideas of how to make the new government. The advantages of the Virginia Plan were that it proposed a strong central government. There would be a state and national government to govern the people. They would have legislative (the House and the Senate), executive and judicial branches. The Virginia Plan also allowed for the national government to collect taxes. The major disadvantage of this plan was that the number of representatives in each house would be proportional to the number of people in each state. This is a disadvantage because the states with less population would have a smaller vote in national matters.

The New Jersey Plan was put forth by William Patterson and a group of small states. The advantages of this plan were that it gave Congress the right to collect taxes, levy fines, make the states pay their taxes and regulate trade. It also proposed judicial and executive branches of government where the executive branch would appoint members to the Supreme Court. Some of the disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan were that it favored a weak national government, only one house of Congress that would be equally representative for each state.

In order to compromise, the delegates combined equal and proportional representation by having the two Houses of Congress. The House of Representatives would be Proportional and the Senate would be equal. The House also had the ability to develop all bills that had to do with taxes and spending. The Senate had the power to except or reject bills and then later to modify them. I think this is a good solution and gives both sides something for giving up a little.

Lucy

7/16/2014 12:19:03 am

I agree with Devyn, the biggest problem to be solved in the convention was representation. I also think that they solved this problem in the best way with the Great compromise even though the larger states had slightly more power.

Claire

7/20/2014 01:46:24 am

I agree with Devyn. Having many people elected in the executive branch, part of the New Jersey plan, was a good idea. The more people you have, the more opinions you have which can be a really good thing when you are trying to solve a problem. At times it may not be such a good thing though, like when you just need to make a decision about something.

Sarah

7/22/2014 12:50:34 pm

The Virginia Plan had advantages and disadvantages. The advantages to the Virginia Plan was that there was a strong national government, two governments would govern the people: House of Representatives and Senate, along with judicial and executive, the national government would be able to collect taxes and create laws. A big disadvantage is that it was proportional representation, making it in favor for the larger states than the smaller ones.

There were also many advantages and disadvantages for the New Jersey Plan. The advantages for the New Jersey Plan are each state would have equal representation, Congress would have power to collect taxes on products and stamps, Congress having power to manage trade between states and other countries, included executive, judicial and legislative branches, Congress would elect multiple people to serve in executive branch. The executive branch than electing members of the Supreme Court. The disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan is that it was a weak government, making the states federal government much more powerful, and there is only one house of Congress.

The Framers were able to compromise between the, known as the Great Compromise. They were able to decide Congress would have two houses House and Senate. House was based on proportional representation, had the power to develop all bills dealing with taxes. The Senate was based on equal representation, they had the power to reject bills related to taxes. I think the Framers' decision on the Great Compromise was a solution to the problem of representation. Both sides got partially what they wanted, which helps keep the thirteen colonies to take a step closer to becoming a nation.

Sarah

7/22/2014 12:55:24 pm

I agree with Lucy, it does help equal out both sides of representation.

Noah

8/3/2014 07:50:32 am

The advantages of the Virginia Plan was that 1) it created a strong national government, 2) there would be state and national governments, 3) the national government would have the power to enforce laws and collect taxes, 4) and the plan created the 3 branches of government. The disadvantage of the plan was that it called for proportional representation which favored large states.

The advantages of the New Jersey Plan was that Congress could regulate trade among all the states, and they would have power to collect taxes. The disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan was that it favored a weak national government, it called for only one house of Congress. Also, the New Jersey Plan called for equal representation that favored the smaller states.

I believe the Great Compromise was a good solution as it used proportional representation for the House of Representatives and used equal representation for the Senate.

Elijah S.

8/3/2014 10:50:13 am

An advantage of the Virginia Plan was that it proposed a strong national government that could give taxes which was impossible under the Articles. A disadvantage was that the representation was decided by proportion. That favored the big states but didn't favor the smaller states. An advantage of the New Jersey Plan was that each

Elijah S.(continued)

8/3/2014 10:53:36 am

Accidentally pressed submit. Each state got equal representation. A disadvantage was it favored a weak national government. The Great Compromise was a great idea. It has two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Elijah S.

8/3/2014 10:56:06 am

I agree with Devyn. Having multiple people elected to be executive is a good idea so all sorts of opinions are put into thought.

Elijah S.

8/3/2014 10:58:33 am

I agree with Lucy, although the New Jersey Plan had it's disadvantages, it also allowed the government to regulate trade.

Isabelle

8/3/2014 12:35:35 pm

The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan were proposed ideas of how the new government would work. They both had advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages of the Virginia Plan were there were checks and balances and three branches of national government, and that there was a federal system. Some disadvantages were that there was proportional representation is the legislative branch and the smaller states would have no say in issues.

The advantages of the New Jersey Plan were that the national government had the power to tax and levy fines and that there were three branches of government. The disadvantages were that there were no checks and balances and congress had more power than the other branches, and that there was equal representation which meant that the people would not be represented accurately.

I think that the Great Compromise was a good solution to the problem. For the most part, it satisfied both the larger and smaller states and I believe that it represented the people most accurately.

Luke

8/3/2014 01:12:03 pm

The benefits of the Virginia Plan is that we would have a greater central government and the states would bond together. The disadvantages of the Virginia Plan is that with a strong executive branch people fears the president would manipulate his powers like the king of England and smaller colonies who disagreed would not have theire opinion be voiced.

I believe that the compromise was a good solution to the problem because it satisfied most states.

Gabriella

8/4/2014 07:29:10 am

The advantages of the Virginia Plan were that it had a strong national government, which was necessary to govern such a large area and population. If the government was weak, as it had been under the Articles, congress could not effectively manage the states. It also proposed two governments, one for the individual states, and one for the nation as a whole. The states would follow by the federal laws, while passing their own, more specific bills. Both governments got their right to rule from the people. The disadvantage, however, was that the representation of the states was proportional, which meant that bigger states had a larger number of voters than the smaller ones, giving them monopoly.

The advantages of the New Jersey plan were that congress had the power to regulate trade inside states and with foreign countries. this prevented the problems that had been had with trade before. It also had equal representation with the states, which allowed states to have an equal number of voters in congress. The disadvantages of the New Jersey plan were that it had a weak national government, which obviously had not worked out before. It also did not allow the people to elect the executive branch or the judicial.

I think that The Great Compromise solved the issue of representation very well by appealing to both sides of the argument and splitting the amount of proportional and equal representation semi-equally.

Gabriella

8/4/2014 07:32:03 am

I agree with Luke, the Great Compromise worked because most, if not all, of the states were satisfied by the way things worked out.

Sophia

8/7/2014 10:22:56 am

An advantage of the Virginia Plan was that the government obtained their power from the citizens. If the people thought that the government had too much power, they could take power away from them. Another advantage was that the government would be strong, therefore the country would not have the same issues they had under the Articles of Confederation. A disadvantage of this plan was that it proposed that the amount of representatives per state be decided by the population of the state. This gave the larger states the power to control the government. An advantage of the New Jersey Plan was that Congress would have the power to regulate trade with other countries. This meant that they could make sure the states kept up their end of trade agreements. One of the disadvantages of the New Jersey Plan was that it proposed a weak government. If the government was weak the country would face the same problems they faced under the Articles of Confederation. Also, the plan reads that each state would have equal representation. The larger states would not have enough representation in Congress. I believe that the Great Compromise was a good solution for the problem of representation. Both the large and small states had a house of Congress that used their preferred method for deciding the amount of representatives per state.

Makayla

8/7/2014 11:13:41 am

The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan were drafted plans for the national government. They both had disadvantages and advantages. One advantage of the Virginia plan was the ability make laws that would not be allowed under the Articles of Confederation. Also, under The Virginia Plan, two governments would govern the people. They would be individual state governments and the national government. Both state and national governments received their power from the people. The Virginia Plan divided the government into legislative, judicial, and executive. This plan favored larger states, this was a major disadvantage. The New Jersey Plan allowed each state equal representation. It also gave Congress the power to collect taxes on products and stamps. This plan favored smaller states. I believe the Great Compromise solved the problem of representation because both sides got partially what they wanted.

Aiden

8/7/2014 11:17:07 pm

The advantage of the Virginia plan was that it proposed a strong government that could collect taxes and make laws. No one could make laws or collect taxes from citizens under the articles. This was great because it made everything more civilized and developed. The advantages of the New Jersey plan were that it supported trade among nations and states. This was good, because if you have too much of one thing but not enough of another, then you can trade and you can also spread culture. The Great Compromise was a good solution because it allowed the two houses to check each other.

Week 4, Question 2

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