Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff Flowing bogabam here. Sometimes we talk about the Constitution of the United States, the document that lays out the law of the land for Americans, as if it were beforged by gods on Mount Olympus and drifted down from the heavens, fully formed into George Washington's own hands, a flawless and sublime document. The truth about the making of the Constitution is that it was a total mess,
like a real Housewives level mess. It took an unbelievable amount of heavy lifting to get it into working order, and even after it became the supreme law of the land in nine it's been amended twenty seven times, with one amendment, the twenty one repealing a previous amendment the eighteen and we're still in discussion about whether this eighteenth century document can meet the needs of twenty first century people.
But as flawed as it may be, the Constitution is pretty impressive considering its creation was required to fix the major weaknesses of its predecessor, the Articles of Confederation before the Article. This episode is based on how Stuff Work spoke with Stephen Phillips, a professor of political science at Clemson University. He said the United States first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was fatally flawed from the moment it
was adopted. It created a national government with very little power, that was essentially impossible to change, and that consisted of
only a legislature, no independent executive or judiciary branches. The government set up under the Articles of Confederation was so bad that it only lasted a decade, and it wasn't so much a government as a firm league of friendship between the thirteen original states, which could all vote on issues that affected the collective, but decisions were only made when at least nine of the states voted the same way.
And the national government couldn't collect taxes, which meant it couldn't pay off its war debt, leaving that to the states. It was a dicey time in American history. Phillips explained economic and security crises mounted throughout the seventeen eighties, showing the national government was simply unable to act to protect the national interest. Political leaders recognized that the country needed
a stronger national government, which meant a revised constitution. Amid the background of political crisis, the Confederation Congress authorized a convention of delegates from the States to debate amendments to the Articles of Confederation to create a stronger national government with greater power. The important question for the delegates is what this government would look like and what powers it
would have. Enter the Constitutional Convention of seventeen eighty seven, wherein the States sent a total of fifty five delegates to meet in Philadelphia to address the problems with the Articles, but ended up completely overhauling the U s government instead. It started with James Madison, a member of the Virginia House of Legates, who introduced the Virginia Plan, which proposed a national government with three branches, a legislature, executive, and
judiciary that was also much more powerful. A Congress would have the power to levy taxes and provide for a national system of defense. The Phillips said. A key part of the Virginia Plan was a legislature with two different chambers, a lower House and Upper House, where the number of representatives each state had would be determined by its population or wealth of The larger the population, the greater the
representation it would have. However, states with smaller populations were not keen on the idea of a legislature where representation in both houses would be based on population, as it would threaten their independence and power, so in response to the Virginia Plan, the small states proposed the New Jersey Plan.
This plan, written primarily by William Patterson, voted to keep the single house legislature with equal state representation from the Articles of Confederation, while adding a national executive and a judiciary and expanding the power of the national government. A Congress would have power to levy taxes and regulate interstate commerce. In this way, the Constitutional Convention of seven turned into a grudge match between the large states and the small states.
After a few days of debate, the New Jersey Plan was rejected. Even a few people who helped Patterson write the plan voted against it. But the small states were so unhappy with the failure of the New Jersey Plan and the legislature offered by the Virginia Plan that there was a real possibility they would leave the Constitutional Convention. At this point, it became clear that a compromise on
representation was needed between the large and small states. After much debate, delegates agreed to the Connecticut Compromise introduced by Connecticuts. Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth Philips said the Connecticut Compromise proposed a national legislature wherein the lower house representation would be based on population and the upper house states would have an equal vote. The Connecticut Compromise struck a middle ground that was able to win support from both large
and small states. However, the Virginia Plan remained influential at the Constitutional Convention and beyond, and is still considered the blueprint for the Constitution. But James Madison didn't write the Constitution alone. The main parts of his Virginia Plan were adopted. A much stronger national government with the power to tacks and provide for the national defense, and a legislature with two houses plus a national executive and judiciary that share power.
After the Connecticut Compromise, there was much debate at the Convention surrounding what these individual parts would look like. There was a lot to hammer out around how we would elect the president, the independence of the judiciary, and states rights and representation in the legislature, and a lot of
lesser known delegates one on some critical issues. The Philips said, there's a reason why equal state representation in the Senate, an idea Madison fought for tooth and nail became not only the conventions great is to compromise, but now the only permanent, unamendable part of the Constitution. The Constitution was written through collaboration and compromise. No delegate achieved everything they wanted, but that did not stop them from working hard to
create a more perfect union. Today's episode is based on the article The Virginia Plan versus the New Jersey Plan, a constitutional grudge match on how stuff works dot com, written by Jesselyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio and partnership of how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Playing and Ramsey Youn. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.