In Convention. Randolph Introduces the Virginia Plan. Summary and Analysis

Bowen returns to the opening of the Convention. After Washington is elected president and gives a short address, the secretary Major Jackson reads aloud the credentials of the delegates from the nine states present. Bowen summarizes some of these credentials, which have been approved by the state legislatures. In them are found reference to the pressing problems of the states, including the differences between the agricultural South and the commercial North, the tension between the small and large states, and the control of the western territory on the frontier.

Through all the documents presented by the legislatures runs the theme of sovereignty. The independence and sovereignty of each state is explicitly mentioned in the Articles of Confederation, and many states are wary that the Convention may seek to supplant...