Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 158, the Constitutional Convention

Part 2, the Virginia Plan. In the spring of 1787, James Monroe wrote the following to James

Madison, quote, we all look with great anxiety to the result of the convention at Philadelphia.

Indeed, it seems to be the sole point on which all future movements will turn, end quote.

So it seemed.

The crises of the critical period had been building over the 1780s, reaching their crescendo with

Shea's rebellion. To try and sort out the situation, delegates from the 13 states were invited

to attend a convention in Philadelphia. We spent the last episode introducing the delegates

to the Constitutional Convention, and this week we'll

finally get into the events, beginning with the starting point of the Convention, the Virginia Plan.

Virginia was, as we've said many times, the oldest and largest of the States.

It also had the most August delegation to the Constitutional Convention,

including James Madison, George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and George Washington. It is of no

surprise that the Virginians immediately set about dominating events. Delegates drifted into Philadelphia across the month of May, finally reaching

a quorum on May 25th. After his usual protestations that he was unfit for the job,

Washington was elected a president of the convention. Then it was time for the serious business to

begin. For months beforehand, Madison had been analysing the situation and identifying issues with the Articles of Confederation, and believed that wholesale reform was needed, not minor modifications.

He argued that the federal government needed to be able to raise funds

and enforce itself upon the states, by force if necessary, but ideally through a federal

judiciary. Madison also wanted to build a direct relationship between the federal government and citizens,

and that this could be done through direct representation, which was proportional according to population.

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