The New Jersey Plan: Key Features and Supporters

Presented at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the New Jersey Plan aimed to protect small states. Its main features:

• Unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state, regardless of population.
• Plural executive elected by the legislature.
• Supreme Court appointed by the executive and legislature.

Who favored it? Small states like New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, which feared domination by large states (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts) under proportional representation. The plan was not adopted wholesale, but its equal-state representation in the Senate was incorporated into the final Constitution.