How is the Constitution designed to limit government power in order to protect individual rights? In the 1780s, many people agreed that the Articles of Confederation were not a strong enough plan of government for a newly born nation. Even though The Articles of Confederation won the Revolutionary War, there were many problems with the plan of government. The Articles of Confederation was made to prevent a strong national government and it only gave each state one vote in the Confederation Congress. It could not raise money and it only had one branch, the Legislature. In 1786, delegates from each state went to Philadelphia to draft a new Constitution for the United States. Fifty-five delegates came to Philadelphia convinced that the defects of the Articles of Confederation were so serious it would be better not to use them as a starting point. James Madison created a plan a government known as the Virginia plan. Under this plan, the national government would have the power to make and enforce its own laws, and to collect its own taxes. Two governments, the state and the national government would govern every citizen. The plan also included a Congress and three branches: the legislative, executive, and the judicial. Even though the Virginia plan barely passed, there were many disagreements to building the new constitution. Some issues were about the Bill of Rights, representation, and the presidency. After arguing and debating about these issues for some quite time, it’s no surprise that the Constitution of 1789 is known as a “Bundle of Compromises.”Article I of the Constitution deals with the legislative branch. The main debate in this area was about representation. The basis for the Virginia plan was proportional representation. The principle of proportional representation was based on the population on the state and was believed that larger states should have more representation because of the people’s voice...
