Proposed Plans
Several plans were introduced, with the most important plan being that of James Madison (the Virginia Plan). The Convention's work was mostly a matter of modifying this plan. Charles Pinckney also introduced a plan, although this wasn't considered and its exact character has been lost to history. After the Convention was well under way, the New Jersey Plan was introduced though never seriously considered. It was mainly a protest to what some delegates thought was the excessively radical change from the Articles of Confederation. Alexander Hamilton also offered a plan after the Convention was well under way, though it included an executive serving for life and therefore the delegates felt it too closely resembled a monarchy. Historians are unsure how serious he was about this, and some have speculated that he may have done it to make Madison's plan look moderate by comparison. The Connecticut Compromise wasn't a plan but one of several compromises offered by the Connecticut delegation. It was key to the ultimate ratification of the constitution, although was only included after being modified by Benjamin Franklin in order to make it more appealing to larger states.
Read more about this topic: Constitutional Convention (United States)
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