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States
New Jersey Plan
Small State Plan or Patterson Plan

After two weeks of debating the Virginia Plan, a counterproposal was put forth by William Patterson, which has become known as the New Jersey Plan (or the Small State Plan or the Patterson Plan). Patterson's ideas amounted to no more than a simple reshaping of the Articles of Confederation.

The plan once again offered the idea of a unicameral (one house) legislature in which all states would have an equal number of votes.

Nevertheless, Patterson did advance one highly valuable idea:

"All acts of the United States in Congress made in pursuance of the powers hereby and by the articles of confederation vested in them, and all Treaties made and ratified under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the respective States . . . and the Judiciary of the several States shall be bound thereby in their decisions, anything in the respective laws of the individual States to the contrary notwithstanding."

This was an expression of the supremacy of federal law; those state laws which ran counter to federal statutes were to be voided.

Off-site search results for ""New Jersey Plan""...

Major Themes at the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd
The Rule of Secrecy 2. The Central Features of the Virginia Plan 3. Why was the New Jersey Plan Introduced? 4. What's the Point to The Hamilton Plan? 5. The Connecticut Compromise 6. The Necessary and Proper Clause 7. The Slave Trade 8 ...
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/themes

Paterson, William
One of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention (1787); he introduced the "New Jersey Plan, " which led to the establishment of the US Senate. Paterson was one of the signers of the Constitution, and supported its ratification. Paterson was ...
http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/nn/Paterson.html

From Revolution to Reconstruction: Documents: Anti-Federalist Papers
... Plan for National Government (June 18) (Alexander Hamilton) Opposition to The New Jersey Plan (June 19) (Madison) Debate on Federalism (June 21) (William S. Johnson, Wilson, Madison) Length of Term in Office for Senators (June 26) (Madison ...
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/D/1776-1800/federalist/antixx.htm

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