After a full day and evening of small State leaders huddling together to craft an alternative to the Virginia Plan, George Washington called the Convention to order at 11:00 this morning. William Paterson was recognized and “laid before the Convention a plan which he said several of the deputations wished to be substituted in place of that proposed by Mr. Randolph.”
After “some little discussion was made,” it was agreed that both the new plan and the Virginia Plan be referred to the Committee of the Whole “in order to place the two plans in due comparison.” New York’s John Lansing requested the Convention postpone further discussion until tomorrow, “by which delay the friends of the plan proposed by Mr. Paterson would be better prepared to explain and support it and all would have an opportunity of taking copies.” The House agreed and adjourned until 11:00 tomorrow morning.
At first called Mr. Paterson’s Plan, it soon became known as the New Jersey Plan. Paterson was assisted in drafting it by David Brearley, Roger Sherman, John Lansing, Luther Martin and possibly others who joined together, but for disparate reasons. New York and Connecticut oppose any departure from the principle of confederation, “wishing rather to add a few new powers to Congress than to substitute a national government.” New Jersey and Delaware oppose a national government because its supporters consider proportional representation to be the basis of it. Whatever their reasons, they are steadfastly united against the large States’ proposal for a consolidated national government.
The small States will not retreat on the issue of representation. John Dickinson reproved James Madison for his refusal to abandon proportional representation. “You see the consequences of pushing things too far,” he declared. “Some of the members from the small States wish for two branches in the general government, and are friends to a good national government; but we would sooner submit to a foreign power than submit to be deprived of an equality of suffrage in both branches of the legislature and thereby be thrown under the domination of the large States.”
Lansing’s proposal agreed to, debate on the two plans will take place beginning tomorrow, but today, the Convention listened as William Paterson presented the nine resolves of the New Jersey Plan.
The first resolution echoes the original purpose of the Convention, “that the Articles of Confederation ought to be revised, corrected and enlarged as to render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.” Under the plan the Confederation Congress would continue as a unicameral legislature, each State casting one vote and nine votes required for passing legislation.
The New Jersey Plan would increase the power of the national legislature by authorizing it to raise revenue and “to pass acts for the regulation of trade and commerce,” provided that “all punishments, fines, forfeitures and penalties to be incurred for contravening such acts, rules, and regulations shall be adjudged by the common law judiciaries of the State in which any offense…shall have been committed or perpetrated.”
The power to tax would be levied “in proportion to the whole number of white and other free citizens and inhabitants of every age, sex, and condition, including those bound to servitude for a term of years and three-fifths of all other persons not comprehended for in the foregoing description.” This language is almost identical to that already approved by the Committee of the Whole. However, the Committee had applied it to representation in the national legislature. Paterson is applying it to taxation only.
The plan proposes a national executive but is silent as to whether the executive would consist of one or more persons. In either case, the executive would be removable by Congress at the request of a majority of the State executives. A judiciary consisting of a supreme tribunal would be appointed by the executive and limited to matters strictly federal.
Finally, the New Jersey Plan proposes that “provision be made for the admission of new States into the Union;” that “the rule for naturalization ought to be the same in every State;” and that if a citizen of one State commits a crime in another State, he shall be “deemed guilty of the same offense as if it had been committed by a citizen of the State in which the offense was committed.”
Paterson describes his plan as “purely federal,” one in which the States retain sovereignty. Its chief appeal is its adherence to the instructions by Congress and nearly all of the States to “amend” the Articles, providing the cover of legitimacy. Madison and Wilson believe it is wholly inadequate and retains all of the flaws of the current system. However, Paterson inserted language in the sixth resolution which may have been intended to show good faith for a slightly strengthened national government but will have important ramifications for the future. “Resolved, that all acts of the United States in Congress…and all treaties made and ratified under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the respective States…” [Italics added.]
The debate will begin tomorrow. In the meantime, delegates spent the remainder of the day and evening comparing both plans, cajoling their colleagues, and, as usual, writing letters. John Dickinson wrote to his wife, Polly, noting “the convention is very busy – of an excellent temper – and for abilities exceeds, I believe, any assembly that ever met upon this continent except for the first Congress.” William Pierce is less optimistic. Tonight, he returned to Congress in New York City and advised William Blount that “very little is done and nothing definitive...This body will not rise until the middle of October.” Blount himself will soon be in Philadelphia as a delegate representing North Carolina.