nited States dealt directly with Spain, then they would open the passage for New England and the middle states. When Southern delegates heard of this, they were outraged. They claimed that the northern delegates were attempting to split up the United States. This situation demonstrated the weakness of the U.S government and further proved that they were unable to deal with important diplomatic matters. This raised tensions between the northern and southern states and people began to question the ability of the government.Many Americans, especially the ones who had played a large role in the Revolutionary War, agreed that something must be done. Finally in 1786 a serious effort to do something about the countries situation began. James Madison convinced the Virginia Assembly to recommend to Congress a convention to possibly create a system of commercial regulations. The first attempt at this convention was very small and poorly organized. Congress authorized a much larger convention in May of 1787. fifty five men came to the Second Constitutional Convention with the initial plan of ratifying the Articles of the Confederation. Their plans were altered when James Madison along with the assistance of Edmund Randolph presented the outline for a new federal system called the Virginia plan. The Virginia plan immediately received large support from many of the 55 delegates attending the meeting. The few opposing delegates were those from the smaller states such as New York and Connecticut. William Paterson presented a different and much more conservative plan on June 15th. This plan known as the New Jersey plan was promptly rejected four days later. After many days of intense negotiations, a compromise of a new plan was reached. The name of this new plan was called the Connecticut compromise. The Connecticut compromise contained many points of the Virginia plan, but also reserved some voice in government to the smaller states. One issue that c...
