 Several plans were introduced , with the most important plan being that of James Madison ( the Virginia Plan ) . The Convention 's work was mostly a matter of modifying this plan . Charles Pinckney also introduced a plan , although this wasn 't considered and its exact character has been lost to history . After the Convention was well under way , the New Jersey Plan was introduced though never seriously considered . It was mainly a protest to what some delegates thought was the excessively radical change from the Articles of Confederation . Alexander Hamilton also offered a plan after the Convention was well under way , though it included an executive serving for life and therefore the delegates felt it too closely resembled a monarchy . Historians are unsure how serious he was about this , and some have speculated that he may have done it to make Madison 's plan look moderate by comparison . The Connecticut Compromise wasn 't a plan but one of several compromises offered by the Connecticut delegation . It was key to the ultimate ratification of the constitution , although was only included after being modified by Benjamin Franklin in order to make it more appealing to larger states . 
