Which concern motivated the New Jersey Plan in opposition to the Virginia Plan?

• A. The Virginia Plan would grant too much power to populous states.
• B. The Virginia Plan would undermine states' rights by giving the national government a veto power over state laws.
• C. The Virginia Plan would create a weak central government.
• D. The Virginia Plan would ignore the need for a strong executive branch.

Answer: (A)

The question tests how representation in the new national legislature would be allocated and how that would affect states of different sizes. The New Jersey Plan emerged because proportional representation, as proposed in the Virginia Plan, would give larger states more seats and more influence in both houses. That would tilt power toward populous states and marginalize smaller ones, so the plan favored equal representation so every state would have the same vote, protecting smaller states’ interests and preventing domination by the big states.

Context helps: the Virginia Plan aimed for representation based on population, which would concentrate power in larger states. The New Jersey Plan pushed back against that, proposing one vote per state and a more limited central authority. The later Connecticut Compromise blended these ideas, creating a two-house Congress with one house based on population and the other giving equal representation to each state.

The other options miss the core concern: the fear wasn’t about veto power, a weak central government, or neglecting the executive branch, but about how to balance power between large and small states through how representation is assigned.