200 JAMES MADISON 



was Madison. This " Virginia plan " struck directly 

 at the root of the evils from which our federal govern- 

 ment had suffered under the articles of confederation. 

 The weakness of that government had consisted in 

 the fact that it operated only upon states, and not upon 

 individuals. Only states, not individuals, were repre- 

 sented in the Continental Congress, which accordingly 

 resembled a European congress rather than an English 

 parliament. According to the ideas entertained at 

 the time of the Revolution, the legislative assembly of 

 each state was its House of Commons ; in one state, 

 North Carolina, it was called by that name. Con- 

 gresses were extraordinary meetings of delegates held 

 on occasions when the several states felt it necessary 

 to consult with each other, just as sometimes happens 

 in Europe. There was a Congress at Albany in 1 754, 

 and one at New York in 1765, and one at Philadelphia 

 in 1774; the advent of war and revolution had made 

 this last one permanent, and it was the only body that 

 represented the United States as a whole. Yet the 

 delegates were much more like envoys from sovereign 

 states than like members of a legislative body. They 

 might deliberate and advise, but had no means of en- 

 forcing their will upon the several state governments ; 

 and hence they could neither raise a revenue nor pre- 

 serve order. Now the cure for this difficulty, devised 

 by Madison and first suggested in the " Virginia plan," 

 lay in transforming the Congress into a parliament, 

 in making it a national legislature elected by the whole 

 American people and having the same authority over 

 them that each state legislature was wont to exercise 

 over the people of its own state. It was really throw- 

 ing Congress overboard and creating a parliament 



