james madison had spent the winter of 1787 making a study of various confederations throughout history. he came to philadelphia armed with a wealth of knowledge and an idea for what the united states government should be. his plan was presented to the convention by edmund randolph, the governor of virginia. it became the broad outline of what would be a new government under the u.s. constitution. his plan called for three branches of government with checks and balances to prevent any one branch from abusing their power. madison's idea for a legislature had two houses. one would feature members elected by the people for a three-year term. the other would have its members elected by the state legislatures and would serve for 7 years. both would have the seats determined by the population of the country.