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New Jersey copied Virginia's first line
Paterson's objection
Paterson was tired of the push for proportional representation, which he saw as an attack on small states. When James Wilson hinted that the large states might form a union without the small ones, Paterson answered that New Jersey would never confederate on that plan because she would be swallowed up, and that he would rather submit to a monarch or a despot. Wilson countered that if each man is naturally sovereign over himself and equal to every other, he cannot keep that equality inside civil government, and neither can a sovereign state in a federal one.
What the plan offered
The New Jersey Plan enlarged the government, with three branches and a power to tax, but kept Congress unicameral with one vote per state. Wilson called a single house legislative despotism.
Madison's takedown
On June 19, Madison took the plan apart. It would fail to stop foreign entanglements, manage affairs among the states, or put down rebellions like Shays', and a government too weak to act could not protect the small states from the large ones. He called it a cobweb that could entangle the weak but would be the sport of the strong. Only Delaware, New York, and New Jersey voted to keep it.
What did the New Jersey Plan add to the Constitution?
The plan included a clause making federal laws and treaties the supreme law of the land, binding on state judges. That language came from Luther Martin of Maryland, who offered it as part of the plan. The final Constitution kept the idea as the Supremacy Clause in Article VI. It became one of the central tools of federal authority.
Why did Madison call it a cobweb?
Madison argued that a government with no power to compel states could not enforce its own laws. A cobweb catches small insects but is torn apart by larger ones. He suggested the New Jersey Plan would shield large states from the central government while leaving small states exposed. The picture was meant to make the point that weak rules protect only the powerful.
How did the vote on June 19 go?
The convention voted seven states to three, with Maryland divided, to continue working from the Virginia resolutions instead of the New Jersey Plan. Delaware, New York, and New Jersey were the three that wanted to keep the smaller-state plan. The result confirmed that the Virginia Plan would be the basis of the final document.
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