p5.+New+Jersey+Plan



media type="file" key="period5-groups-newjersey.mp4" align="right" width="300" height="300" =Group Members and Roles=  =Group Slogan =
 * Sophia Horigan: Speaker
 * Sara Jane Patterson: Brochure, Mailer, & Photographer
 * Pat Hoffman: Debator
 * Bethany Eckstrom: Graphic & Facebook page
 * Christopher Hanna: Radio & Television PSA
 * Michael Saldana: Print Journalist

=What Your Group Wants -- Plan for New Constitution=

Acknowledgement of the smaller state's opinions through equal representation in Congress.

=Bullet Points of Your Plan=

-Unicameral legislature -Each state has one vote for equal representation -The smaller populated will not get crushed by the larger -More power to Congress to tax in order to remove the US from debt -More power to the federal government, yet ultimately vetoed by Congress

=Orator: Text of Your Speech=  media type="file" key="newjerseyplan-speech-p5-2011.flv" width="640" height="360" align="center"

New Jersey Plan Speech Gentlemen, my name is William Paterson, a delegate here to propose the ‘New Jersey Plan.’ But more importantly, a fellow believer in the ability of these United States of America! Needless to remind, we are in the midst of the birth of a founding nation; one which we men fought side by side, **equally,** to achieve. Our universal efforts have united us to attain our radical goals; independence from the tyranny of England as well as our natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The avowal of our own nation. But we are in an awful status at this time, gentlemen. The entire world is watching us, scrutinizing our every move and decision, Great Britain for one- no doubt curing our potential of success and ardently predicting and praying for our failure. For then they will have prevailed. It is with certainty that we must persist and uphold this powerful unity with a new zealousness as we grow and develop; prosper and thrive; expand and achieve to our greatest ability and beyond! That unwavering determination; that fervent ardor for equality and representation must adhere our states as we march boldly into the future. For we can go nowhere but onward and upward! We will prove to the world that we can succeed. Look at all the inconceivable things we have accomplished thus far! But as is to all of us apparent; to achieve this; to prove England’s throne wrong and to validate our claims; to advance and establish ourselves a place in this tumultuous world, we **must** revise our Articles of Confederation. Gentlemen, I implore you… We were founded in this precious land as separates. Were we not all then linked by our own contempt of inadequate representation in affairs directly pertinent to we as colonies which fueled our voracious desire for change of our rights and freedoms? And did this unspoken decision not thrust us into the simmering revolt that then flared into a full-fledged war? We went through it together my fellow countrymen; from our gruesome defeat at the Battle of Long Island to our euphoric victory at Saratoga. **All** of us, brother aside brother, fought for equality. For a nation free of the oppressive and tyrannical chains of George III. Therefore this faith in our common case whose coherence enabled our blessed victory can do naught but be instated into our foundational structure? Then and only then can we progress as a sound and wholesome nation. I first wish to thank the kind gentlemen of the Virginia Plan. For graciously it bestows me such a ludicrous example that only serves to advance my own plan, as they reek of ignorance and selfishness. They advocate representation in Congress subjective to the size and population of the state. Without a doubt they would support this, boasting the most populous and one of the most sizeable states! That in itself sheds light upon their evident and greater regard for self-interest. This, gentlemen, is unfair, unjust, and unequal! The smaller states would most certainly fall second to the larger such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Our ‘lesser’ states would be at the will of the better inhabited, and we would be positively trampled upon! And this horrid injustice simply based on our size?!? The Virginia Plan proposes to eradicate the present Articles of Confederation and to compose an entirely new document which would fail to acknowledge equal vote in Congress; not only trampling on our statehood in order to hoist themselves to the pinnacle of the political mountain, but essentially and utterly disregarding us as citizens of this country! Tell me; where is the equality in that plan gentlemen! Is it not liberty and justice for **all**, not only for some?!? Gentlemen, if this plan is adopted, it will give rise to a hypocritical hierarchy in which few will dominate the rest. The less populous states would then become subservient to these ‘superiors’, and retain minimal voice in maws that pertain to our nation as a whole. Our government will become precipitously centralized around the will of these few; reinstituting the tyranny we have just fought so courageously to escape from under. We will have slipped back into oppression, despair, and cruel injustices; leaving all of our efforts for independence completely in vain! Your peace will have been upset for nothing! Our nation’s prosperity set back for nothing! Your brothers, your fathers, your sons, will have shed their blood for nothing. I, and my homeland New Jersey, gentlemen, will not concede to that! I speak for all in similar circumstance when I say: We will more readily part from these United States of America than disgrace our deceased and be persecuted by oppressive and tyrannical power and government yet again. We will continue to uphold and fight for the ideals that built this country. Gentlemen, I pray, for our future as a nation, that I have made abundantly clear that equal representation in Congress is the only sure path to a successful and prosperous future. Hear me out now; my New Jersey plan calls for that just representation, no wrong components such as size and population shall have any potency. We the people, represented equal! Every state’s voice will have an audience; their vote will have equal influence, while each state’s individual ideals are simultaneously upheld. This plan, gentlemen, is straightforward enough. Betterment of the existing Articles rather than the unnecessary creation of a new one. The three branches of government shall remain, but I call here and now for a unicameral legislature of the people, by the people, and for the people. One representative will be elected by the citizens of each state, regardless of population, to make up the legislature of our entire nation. The legislative branch shall elect the executive branch, and they in turn the judicial. This base of equality in legislature therefore runs up the ladder of justice giving each state fair representation in Congress. It is essential that we grant Congress more influence as well; right of taxation on states and trade to pull America from its current debilitating debt, by raising revenues and regulating commerce. Furthermore, fundamental decisions in law and punishment with capacity to veto state proposal, not only constituting balance and stability in our justice system, but the eradicating of laws between all the states only unifies us further. More power shall also be given to the federal government, however kept limited as Congress’s ultimate say ties us politically as well. Thus a system of checks and balances lead us to the right path for prosperity and eventual democracy! This equality of structure and the stability it provides will best represent our nation’s up holdings as well as state sovereignty, and is absolutely essential for our government to be fair and just. We are a nation with the promise for a prosperous future. My plan must be upheld; no one state was more vital in the struggle to secede than another, so why should any reap more of the benefit? We all shed our blood, sweat, and tears, we all died, and we all deserve equality in this government. Gentlemen, this resolution is not to be taken lightly; an erroneous choice could break us apart and crush all hopes of our republic. We fought on the unifying basis of ideals for our deserved freedom, building the stone foundation of these United States of America; gentlemen, that integral foundation is equality, and if we wish to succeed, it must be upheld. Vote for the New Jersey Plan. Thank you.



=Debater: Possible Objections to Plan and Your Replies= =Why Our Plan is Good:= We ALL fought for our equality and representation, therefore it must be instituted into our foundation of government.

== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =Print Journalist: Write Up of Convention Activity= =TV PSA= media type="file" key="New Jersey TV PSA 2011.m4v" width="840" height="840" =Radio PSA= media type="file" key="New Jersey Radio PSA Period 5.aif" width="300" height="50" On a day belonging to a particularly hot summer in Philadelphia fifty five delegates gathered to draft an altogether new document that would, with the event of it being ratified, would become the supreme law of the land. James Madison stood up and, with a shaky voice that seemed to fail to convince a single person in the room, began to ramble on about a plan so that a states power in congress is decided “proportionately by the population of each state”. As unimpressive as his speech was, what with his chuckling at odd intervals and the rather uncomfortable air he expressed, it was ultimately a failure when he asserted that “all men are created equal”, yet failed to acknowledge that such a plan as the one he called for would make the men of smaller states less equal than those of larger states. William Patterson was next to take the floor, and with a thunderous voice that commanded the attention of every delegate in the room began to speak of the birth of the nation, a nation to which “the entire world is watching us, scrutinizing,” and of course hoping that we fail. However he seemed to cast aside the criticism clearly offered by the distant European countries and spoke of how America needed to move “upward and onward”. He rebuffed James Madison’s plan, rightfully accusing it of being “unfair, unjust, and unequal” nothing more than a promotion of “hypocritical hierarchy”. William Patterson’s voice, strong and powerful, pleaded with the other delegates that they must draft a constitution in which each state is represented equally in congress, so as to prevent the tyrannical rule of the larger states. With a final look of triumph at the clear impact he made on many of the present delegates William Patterson surrendered the stage to the next speaker. Promoters of the Great Compromise, though its main speaker wore an unruly and viciously tangled wig and commanded a voice that was—if anything—inappropriately loud, somewhat incoherent, and subject to awful stuttering, proposed a somewhat fair plan, in which the states would be given equal representation in one house, but a representation based on population in another. He accused, “just as the Virginia plan was unfair to you, you were unfair to them”, and seemed to gain not only the disagreement of said delegates, but discontent with his so called Compromise which would give the larger states the majority power in matters of presidential election. With a final shout of “LET US COMPROMISE” he abandoned the floor. The two following speakers then began a battle of their own; the Crispus Attucks Coalition pleaded for the abolition of slavery and equality to both blacks and whites, affirming that slavery would “separate our people and destroy our unity”. The Dixiecrat Bloc promptly followed and rebuffed their pleas, assuring the delegates in the room that slavery was essential to both the American government and economy. The unjustly called for the counting of their slaves, who would have no voice for their opinions, to the total of their state population. When met with glares, hisses, and boos from the Crispus Attucks Coalition he threatened to “remove ourselves from the union entirely” and stated with “our slaves or our graves” that without slaves Americans would not last. Promplty following the speeches they all began to debate on the previously spoken matters. James Madisson and his fellow country man quickly began, making statements they seemed to find witty but which gained them the discontent of William Patterson and his fellow. The promoters of the Virginia plan looked at the other debaters rather smugly, the blond one smirking at odd intervals and failing to make arguments that seemed to make any impact. In truth, apart from the incomparable William Patterson, they only debater that made a true impact was the one present from the Great Compromise, who seemed to take it upon himself to referee the bitterly arguing delegates and proposed a meeting of halfway to the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan promoters, and seemed to question the motivations of both the Crispus Attucks Coalition, and the nearly entirely incoherent speakers from the Dixiecrat Bloc, one speaking in a southern accent so thick the words began to slur together and the delegate to which he was speaking to was forced to ask him to say it again. At the end of the debate many of the sides seemed wholly discontent with the others, and yet each one, notably William Patterson and his commanding voice and the Great Compromiser “referee” with his logic—though still somewhat arguable—seemed to make a statement which they did not contradict later on.

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