2. The United States was a league of independent republics in 1787
When the Constitutional Convention began in May 1787, representatives arrived in Philadelphia having been selected by their state legislatures. Their intent was revision of the Articles of Confederation to create new powers for the federal government which would allow it to better deal with problems of national interest. Of the 70 men appointed to the convention, only 55 showed up. Rhode Island declined to participate at all. The only thing they found they could agree wholeheartedly on was the selection of George Washington as the presiding officer. On May 29 the Virginia delegation presented a 15-point plan to the convention, drafted by James Madison and presented by Edmund Randolph, then Governor of Virginia. It called for the creation of a bicameral legislature, with proportional membership elected by the people in a lower house, and state-appointed membership in an upper house.
It also proposed a new government, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Government under the Articles of Confederation contained a congress consisting of a single house, with the presiding officer, elected by the congress, serving as the executive. Madison had proposed an entirely new government. Under his proposal, Virginia, the most populous state at the time, would have the largest representation in both houses of the new congress. To the northern states, the idea was unthinkable. New Jersey offered a counterproposal. Proposed by William Paterson in mid-June, the New Jersey plan suggested a single house in the legislature, with each state receiving one vote, regardless of the size of its population. For the first two months of the convention, the delegates debated the two plans, with idea of amending the Articles of Confederation all but forgotten.