ON THIS DAY IN 1787: Five days into the Constitutional Convention, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph offered the “Virginia Plan” to the delegates. The plan, which was primarily the work of James Madison, was no mere tinkering around at the edges of the Articles of Confederation. It called for a wholly new structure of government (which … uh … isn’t what the state legislatures that sent the delegates thought they were going to be getting).

The Constitution ultimately produced by the Convention differed in significant ways from Madison’s scheme. But the Virginia Plan nevertheless set the tone for the gathering: The Articles of Confederation are fatally flawed. Start from scratch.