Less populous states like Delaware are afraid…

June 1787 CE

Less populous states like Delaware are afraid that such an arrangement will result in their voices and interests being drowned out by the larger states.

Many delegates also feel that the Convention does not have the authority to completely scrap the Articles of Confederation, as the Virginia Plan would have.

In response, on June 15, 1787, William Paterson of the New Jersey delegation proposes a legislature consisting of a single house.

Each state is to have equal representation in this body, regardless of population.

The New Jersey Plan, as it is called, would leave the Articles of Confederation in place, but would amend them to somewhat increase Congress's powers.

At the time of the convention, the South is growing more quickly than the North, and Southern states have the most extensive Western claims.

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia are small in the 1780s, but they expect growth, and thus favor proportional representation.

New York is one of the largest states at this time, but two of its three representatives (Alexander Hamilton being the exception) support an equal representation per state, as part of their desire to see maximum autonomy for the states. (The two representatives other than Hamilton will leave the convention before the representation issue is resolved, leaving Hamilton, and New York state, without a vote.)

James Madison and Hamilton are two of the leaders of the proportional representation group.

Madison argues that a conspiracy of large states against the small states is unrealistic as the large states are so different from each other.

Hamilton argues that the states are artificial entities made up of individuals, and accuses small state representatives of wanting power, not liberty.

For their part, the small state representatives argue that the states are, in fact, of a legally equal status, and that proportional representation would be unfair to their states.

Gunning Bedford, Jr. of Delaware notoriously threatens on behalf of the small states, "the small ones w[ould] find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice."

Elbridge Gerry ridicules the small states’ claim of sovereignty, saying “that we never were independent States, were not such now, & never could be even on the principles of the Confederation. The States & the advocates for them were intoxicated with the idea of their sovereignty.” ("Madison's notes, June 29 1787". Yale Avalon project.)

The problem is referred to a committee consisting of one delegate from each State to reach a compromise.