USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The New Jersey Plan was designed to protect the security and power of the small states by limiting each state to one vote in Congress, as under the Articles of Confederation. Its acceptance would have doomed plans for a strong national government and minimally altered the Articles of Confederation.

Detailed explanation-2: -That is, each state’s representation in Congress would be based on its population. The alternative to the Virginia Plan, William Paterson’s New Jersey Plan, intended to give states equal representation in a one-bodied legislature.

Detailed explanation-3: -THE NEW JERSEY PLAN, 15 JUNE 1787 The New Jersey Plan proposed exactly what the Confederation Congress had authorized: amendments to the Articles of Confederation that kept the basic structure of the Articles while strengthening the powers of Congress.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Virginia, or large state, plan provided for a bicameral legislature with representation of each state based on its population or wealth; the New Jersey, or small state, plan proposed equal representation for each state in Congress.

Detailed explanation-5: -In response, William Paterson proposed what became known as the New Jersey Plan, presenting it to the Convention on June 15. The centerpiece of Paterson’s plan was a unicameral (one-house) legislature in which each state had a single vote.