p1.+Virginia+Plan



=Group Members and Rolesmedia type="file" key="period1-groups-virginia.mp4" align="right" width="300" height="300"=
 * Speaker/Leader: **Chandler**
 * Writer: **Nate**
 * Debator: **Chandler** and **Nate**
 * Photographer: **George**
 * Graphics Designer:**Devin**
 * Print Journalist: **Sean**
 * Radio Spokesperson: **Anthony**
 * Television Spokesperson: **Ahdam**
 * Facebook Page Designer: **Sean**

=Group Slogan=

=What Your Group Wants -- Plan for New Constitution= To establish ourselves a stable country, which we can build upon, we must make a plan to provide the needed framework. With the Virginia Plan, no large population will feel less represented then the should. Representation by population I say! States with a larger population will be granted more seats in the National Legislature. Accompanying proper representation will be three branches of government, which will balance power, and in turn offer the backbone for a strong National Government. Once a Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branch are formed members of the Legislative branch would be elected. These elected members would then choose members to occupy the other chamber. Popularly elected members will serve for one term. The Legislative branch will have the power to negate state laws in order to stay in line with the articles of confederation. So save the nation, have representation by population, and vote Virginian plan! =Bullet Points of Your Plan= The Virginia Plan sums up in a 15 "resolution" plan writen by Edmund Randoph, father of the Virginia Plan itself. It states, in simple terms:
 * Resolved, that the Articles of Confederation should be corrected and strengthened in the name of "common Defence, security of Liberty, and general welfare."
 * Resolved, that Suffrage should be based on contribution to the country(economically), or to the number of free inhabitants, either one.
 * Resolved, that The National Legislature should be 2 branches.
 * Resolved, that The first branch should be made of people elected by the States for 3 year terms, and after term, be unable to run again for that branch.
 * Resolved, that The second branch should be elected then through nominations from state legislatures, by the first branch.
 * Resolved, that each branch of the Federal government should posses the right of originating acts. Legislature should be empowered to should be able to use its power to do what the states cannot do in their power, and be able to negate all laws possessed by the states, if contradictory to the articles of the union or any other treaty of the union, and also be able to enforce the article of the union.
 * Resolved, that an Executive should be instituted, and chosen by the Legislature for a 7 year term and one term only, with fixed pay, and rights vested in it by Congress to execute national law and appoint certain offices.
 * Resolved, that a number of judiciary should make up a Council of Revision, with authority to examine all acts of national legislature, and either pass or veto them before being enacted.
 * Resolved, that the Judiciary branch should include one Supreme Tribunal, with fixed pay, which shall look over cases which have gone through the Inferior tribunal for a second time. All important cases of national and international matters shall go to the Supreme Tribunal.
 * Resolved, that a Provision should exist for the admission of states to the union with consent of the legislature in just a majority.
 * Resolved, that a Republican government and the territory of each state should be guaranteed by the U.S. to each state.
 * Resolved, that a provision should be made to continue the authorities and privileges of the Congress until a given day, after the reformed articles of union should be adopted.
 * Resolved, that There should be provision for amending the articles of the union if seen fit.
 * Resolved, that The Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary powers of the states should be bound by oath to the articles of the union.
 * Resolved, that amendments should be offered to the confederation, by the convention, and be chosen by the people of the several legislatures.

=Orator: Text of Your Speech=

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Gentlemen! I thank thee on making the perilous journey to participate in our monumental congregation. My friends, comrades, //countrymen//; today we stand tall as //Americans// in our land of liberty that was won with years of sacrifice, bloodshed, and tragedy. Yet now we are to face a new enemy, and he, stronger, more cunning, and more influential than that of our recently repelled dictatorship. Yes, this enemy is present in our wives, present in our children, present in our churches, and present in our homes. IT IS PRESENT IN ALL OF US! We are falling victim to the specter aliased as disunity. We cannot fully put blame in the hands of the criminal. He was only able to commit the atrocity because of the pride in our own states. Pride is what destroyed the British and it may also be the Achille’s heel to our newborn nation. The one possible shield we have against this overwhelming hubris is to institute a strong central government.

Comrades, we must focus on tearing down the oppressive walls of disunity that reign supreme over the land as, //king.// We are one people under one flag and should begin to act the part! These silly affairs of differing trade tariffs, minority rule, and the land grab that has infected the west where our own brothers fight for wilderness; must come to an end! Furthermore we are governed by a congress that lacks the ability to do, //anything// of great significance without being called a return of King George! The total of these factors clearly illustrates the symptoms of a mad man fraught with paranoia. This madman is the weak federal government and the bickering state governments! What we need is a united leadership, what we need is a more capable form of congress, void of the drawbacks that riddle the present one. What we need is a stronger central government!

We have met here not simply to revise a government, but also to protect it from going back to the ways of the monarchy where the few rule the many. This is what the New Jersey Plan intends to accomplish. //They// wish to put us into the shackles of slavery alongside the Negro! (A situation best saved for more complacent times.)

Yes it may sound appealing to the less populated states among us, to have equal representation as the larger states, but ponder the fact, if vote swings toward //that// evil and away from the light that our Christian god has given us, what then wilt thou proclaim when standing before the gates of heaven! Wilts thou say that thee stood alongside the devil when he took away the votes of true American patriots? Or wilts thou take firm a stance and say with gusto that thou fought for the natural rights of man?

We must do what is necessary and //right// to protect our nation. We need a plan of action with experience behind it, one that makes sense, one that’s a patriot’s choice. What we want, neigh, what we //need// the Virginia Plan. With this plan all citizens would be given equal representation without being granted too much or too little of it! Wasn’t our conflict with Great Britain not only to end taxes and maintain independence but also so that all may have their equal say? So my colleagues, save the nation, representation by population, vote for a Virginian Plan, no, an American Plan!!!



=Debater: Possible Objections to Plan and Your Replies=
 * Opp: Won't the larger states gang up on the smaller states?[[image:debate-p1-virginiaplan.jpg align="right"]]
 * Reply: No, this rumor about a "mobocracy" is a complete hoax. The larger states may have more votes than our smaller brethren, //but// it is only for the greater good of all! The states with lesser population still have equal votes to that of the larger states because it is proportional. The New Jerseynites have only been slander mouthing the Virginia Plan's good name with labels like tyrant, mob rulers, and the //majority//.


 * Opp: Can't we just have a combination of the two?
 * Reply: No, for the simple fact that if we muddle up the straight edged bureaucracy, then nothing will get done. More levels of congress, slower the process of democracy, quicker the rise to rebellion and collapse to the union.

=Why Our Plan is Good:=
 * Opp: Shouldn't the executive branch maintain the most power?
 * Reply: No, if we give the majority of power into the hands of one man will we not become what we struggled to gain independence from? Power should come directly through the arms of the people and //then// into the minds of the rulers. With this the only way to assure the people's rights is if they elect their representatives which //in turn// elect the other officials.
 * The basis of the Virginia Plan is that those with a greater population deserve a larger representative body in Congress than the states with a smaller population. Because of a larger population, a state needs more politicians to be the eyes, ears and mouth for the more numerous inhabitants of larger states such as Virginia and Massachusetts.


 * Just as size varies among the states, ideology and beliefs vary greatly as well. It is common sense that a ratio between representatives to population (rep:pop) be established so the majority can be fully represented and have their voices be heard.


 * If everyone's ideas and opinions were not shared, then how are we as Americans sporting a true, by the book, functional democracy?


 * The fear is that if smaller states do not have equal representation as the larger ones, they will become the minority and their ideas will vetoed or overruled by the states who have the numbers to out vote them. However these naive states do not understand this: we are all Americans, we all shed blood in our war of independence, we are all united under a common cause, and therefore there should be no worry that one brother will try to leave behind another brother.

=Print Journalist: Write Up of Convention Activity=
 * WE have fought for independence, and now WE are fighting for democracy. If we do not allow all of our brothers to be heard through a fair share of representation, then everything we have fought, are fighting, and are going to fight will all come to nothing. WE might as well hand ourselves back over to king George III if so...

Light angelically fell upon the face of James Madison last Tuesday in this fine year of 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, while he delivered his speech stressing a "stronger centralized government!" one that the Articles of Confederation don't, and never could, provide. Madison proclaimed that "all citizens would be given equal representation" due to the policies of the Virginia Plan. Madison addressed our sense of disunity and pronounced that if we do not unite as one people "...a return of King George..." is imminent. Under the Virginia Plan everyone gets equal voting rights and this is the only way to unite and prevent the rise of Monarchy again in the states. This plan would give States seats in the National Legislature proportional to their population, this prevents smaller, in regards to population, states from being able to overrule or cancel out the vote of a larger one. Madison defended the plan as being "what is necessary and right to protect our nation." Madison's speech was replete with spontaneous applause and cheering, with a minute amount of indistinct boos and hisses.

Though not present at the Convention, James Patterson pointlessly argued that the only way to prevent another monarchy was to accept the New Jersey Plan. However, as James Madison put it, doing this would be "going back to the ways of the monarchy where the few rule the many." With every state only having one vote, the voices of the miniscule states could drown out the voices of the large ones. Accepting the New Jersey Plan would be "[putting us in] shackles of slavery alongside the Negro!"

After the speeches came to a conclusion a heated debate arose among the 5 parties present at the convention. The tension between the representatives among the Virginia Plan, James Madison and Edmund Randolph, and the New Jersey Plan, James Patterson and an unknown accomplice, as they argued about their plans could be felt in the room. Randolph reverently pointed out that with proportional representation every state gets a fair amount of votes. New Jersey then, out of no where, claimed that Virginia only wanted to rule over the states and quickly called them "King Virginia". Virginia then replied that with the fact that their plan gives every state the amount of votes it deserves and no state is represented unfairly. Randolph then went on to explain that the voices of 50 people should not be able to be drowned out by the voice of one, which the deceitful New Jersey Plan wished to do by giving only one vote to every state. New Jersey then cowardly claimed that if they weren't given their way they'd secede from the states. Randolph swiftly replied that they should try and see if they could stand up to the might of the rest of the states.

While this debate was going on, Benjamin Franklin tried to cool down both sides by recommending a bicameral legislature in which the upper house consists of the senate where each state gets 2 representatives and a lower house that consists of representatives proportional to the population of the state. Franklin filled his explanation with analogies, although sometimes irrelevant.

Ravaging the room with their voices, the Dixiecrats and Crispus Attucks coalition could be heard throughout the meeting. The Dixiecrats suggested that we simply sweep the idea of freeing the slaves under the rug and don't lift the rug back up until 1808. Infuriated by this idea the Attucks coalition quickly objected to this proposal and said that the slaves must be freed from their bonds immediately. Roger Sherman found holes in the ideas voiced by the Attucks coalition and soon rendered their argument fact less, by pointing out that George Mason owned a slave. In the end both sides agreed that "[we] can't afford to sweep slavery under the matt." =TV PSA=

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