It was interesting to know that Jefferson was dead set against the proceedings going private. Middlekauff (630) writes that by putting their Virginia Plan out first, the Virginians "had framed the terms of the discussion." And for the next two weeks the delegates supporting the Virginia Plan "had forced the pace of deliberations, and, for the most part, controlled the Convention." The momentum was on the side of the Virginians and their supporters; the Virginia Plan called for an executive branch, a judiciary, and a "supreme" legislature - and that the representation in the legislature should be allocated according to population. Basically, all the proposals by the Virginians were at the top of the list of topics discussed during the next two weeks. And essentially, by June 13, the results were "substantially the Virginia Plan without the Council of Revision," Middlekauff continues, and sounding more like Berkin when he adds that James Madison's "near-mad scheme to give the Congress a veto over state legislation remained in the Plan" (631).

MIDDLEKAUFF on MADISON: Both Middlekauff and Berkin go to great lengths to define, describe and praise the work of James Madison in the convention. Madison was the most eloquent and forceful of the speakers, and when he presented an idea he did it as an articulate, educated man who had done his homework. Actually, Madison was the author of the Virginia plan, and Middlekauff (638) writes that Madison's knowledge of history...

She mentions on page 72 that Madison's "forte was creating structures, and the Virginia resolutions provided a governmental skeleton, a structural blueprint for the new Constitution." Berkin refers to Madison's strategy in promoting the three branches of government as "genius" (73); Madison showed a "surgeon's skill" in cutting Congress in half and calling for representative legislators (73).
CONCLUSION: Berkin's next-to-last sentence in Chapter Eight describes - with her typical flair - the state that brought up the rear when it came to ratifying the Constitution (190): In March 1790 Rhode Island "...set aside its roguishness and grudgingly" ratified. Typically less colorful in his narrative, Middlekauff's last two sentences went like this: "...Rhode Island held back until May of the following year. By the time it gave approval, the administration of President Washington has been in office for over a year" (664).

Works Cited

Berkin, Carol. (2002). A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American…