<P> The Virginia Plan proposed a legislative branch consisting of two chambers (bicameral legislature), with the dual principles of rotation in office and recall applied to the lower house of the national legislature . Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their "Quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants ." States with a large population, like Virginia (which was the most populous state at the time), would thus have more representatives than smaller states . Large states supported this plan, and smaller states generally opposed it, preferring an alternative put forward on June 15 . The New Jersey Plan proposed a single - chamber legislature in which each state, regardless of size, would have one vote, as under the Articles of Confederation . In the end, the convention settled on the Connecticut Compromise, creating a House of Representatives apportioned by population and a Senate in which each state is equally represented . </P> <P> In addition to dealing with legislative representation, the Virginia Plan addressed other issues as well, with many provisions that did not make it into the Constitution that emerged . It called for a national government of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial . Members of one of the two legislative chambers would be elected by the people; members of that chamber would then elect the second chamber from nominations submitted by state legislatures . The executive would be chosen by the legislative branch . </P> <P> Terms of office were not specified, but the executive and members of the popularly elected legislative chamber could not be elected for an undetermined time afterward . The legislative branch would have the power to negate state laws if they were deemed incompatible with the articles of union . The concept of checks and balances was embodied in a provision that legislative acts could be vetoed by a council composed of the executive and selected members of the judicial branch; their veto could be overridden by an unspecified legislative majority . </P> <P> The Virginia Plan and the debate surrounding it are prominently featured in the 1989 film A More Perfect Union, which depicts the events of the 1787 Constitutional Convention . Presented largely from the viewpoint and words of James Madison, the movie was mainly filmed in Independence Hall . </P>

At the constitutional convention of 1787 supporters of the virginia plan