William Paterson’s New Jersey Plan proposed a unicameral (one-house) legislature with equal votes of states and an executive elected by a national legislature. This plan maintained the form of government under the Articles of Confederation while adding powers to raise revenue and regulate commerce and foreign affairs. James Madison commented on Paterson’s proposed plan in his journal that he maintained during the course of the proceedings. Madison’s notes, which he refined nightly, have become the most important contemporary record of the debates in the Convention.