Question

At the Constitutional convention, smaller states supported the New Jersey delegation's plan for government. Why did small states like this plan?
A) The New Jersey plan called for a bicameral legislature with one house's representation based upon population and another house's representation based upon equality.


B) The New Jersey plan called for a direct democracy in which all citizens would directly vote upon any Acts presented in Congress.


C) The New Jersey plan called for a legislature that would be represented based upon population of each state.


D) The New Jersey plan called for a legislature in which the number of representatives would be equal for each state.

Answer 1

The answer is D.

William Patterson’s “New Jersey Plan” supported giving each state and equal amount of votes. Instead of the plan we use today which states that each state has the same number of senators and different numbers of congressmen (House of Representatives) based on the population of each state.

The reason why smaller states approved of this plan is because if each state has an equal amount of representatives, then the smaller states will be equal to states that have larger population. This plan is similar to The Articles to the Confederation. Which we know was not successful. Fortunately, people did not support this plan because they believed that this plan would make the national government they wanted weak.