From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems

CHAPTER 11Generate Options for Mutual Gain

When the delegates arrived in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention at the end of May 1787, quite a few came with firm views on how to reorganize the country's government.¹ The delegates from Virginia, led by James Madison, actually had a fully fleshed-out plan in hand, with just a few blanks to be filled in for details like the length of term of members in the new national legislature. The Virginia Plan proposed a strong federal government with the power to veto state-level laws. There would be two houses in the legislature, both with representation based on state population.²

Other delegations scrambled to find quill, ink, and parchment so they, too, could present plans to the convention. William Paterson introduced the New Jersey Plan two weeks later. It was designed to ensure that big states like Virginia didn't run roughshod over the smaller states by giving every state just one representative each in the new legislature. It embodied such small changes from the existing Articles of Confederation that many delegates threw up their hands in frustration, and a couple days later, it was voted down. Alexander Hamilton, representing New York, countered with a proposal—he was painstaking in avoiding the word “plan”—to return to the idea of a strong national government.³ It got nowhere. The smaller states became louder in their protests. They weren't being heard.

Then, on July 2, a breakthrough came—a vote was held on the possibility ...