Every four years we hear the same hyperbole regarding the Electoral College: it is archaic and should be abolished the president should be elected directly by the people like our Congressman and Senators because we need to listen to the will of the people. These arguments are superficial in their nature and never really get down to the real intentions of those who make this argument because their intentions are based in emotion rather than reason. When we hear arguments such as these, you better believe that the individual making them has limited understanding of why the Electoral College was established and is easily led by leaders looking to gain their own power. We have the Electoral College for a simple reason, the majority is wrong at times, and we have definitely seen this over the last 50 years.
So, what led the delegates in the Constitutional Convention to choose this method of electing a president? It happened over a period of time during the convention starting on June 9, 1787, when a motion to have the President elected by State Legislatures failed. Then on June 18th, Alexander Hamilton made his famous proposal of a President for Life because there had been a stalemate on the issue. He leaves shortly after this to return to New York. His proposal is defeated but it engages the delegates to have real and substantial discussions on this issue and from July – August of 1787, we see it heavily discussed, and it is during this time the Brearly Committee is formed. Finally on September 4, 1787, the Committee makes its recommendation of an Electoral College.
To understand the four distinct timelines in the creation of the Electoral College we must first look to what led to the first motion being defeated on June 9, 1787. Edmond Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan on May 29th which called for the creation of a National Executive that would be elected by Congress. After initial consideration of this proposal which also included a one 7 year term with no ability to be re-elected, the delegates decided they wanted to discuss other issues which was how to elect a president. This is where the motion to have an executive elected by state legislatures came about and was defeated on June 9, 1787.
From here until June 18th, the delegates were at a standstill on this subject until Alexander Hamilton stands up and proposes a President for life. Many in the convention are shocked and surprised by this but it is now known he is basing this proposal on Washington. There is some question as to whether he really believed in this or if it was a ploy to get the delegates working as the convention was unproductive at that moment. The speech or theatrics worked, and the delegates began to work together again. In fact, Hamilton will write Federalist 68 supporting the establishment of an Electoral College.
Beginning in July of 1787, the delegates revisit the executive branch again and agree to several issues including that the executive is elected by the national legislature. By August they have defeated four modes of electing the president and settle on sending it to a committee. The Brearly committee of ten is formed to settle outstanding issues. James Madison and James Wilson, two prominent members of the delegation, are part of this committee. They proposed that the President have its own electoral base, but Roger Sherman believed that the state legislatures had to elect the president to keep him honest. Roger Sherman was from one of the small states so this would have been a critical issue to him. A deal is finally reach, whereby the amount of representation in the Senate and Congress that each state has will determine the final electoral vote because the President must represent the entire nation. The delegates decided this was the best way to preserve our partly federal/partly national concept of government they were implementing. It was decided that Congress can regulate the election, but the states can regulate how their electoral votes are cast. This method was presented to the full convention on September 4, 1787, and was accepted by the delegates.
Now there are limitations to who can and cannot be an elector. For instance, a senator or representative cannot be an elector, nor can anyone be holding an office of trust. Alexander Hamilton would write:
“They have not made the appointment of the president to depend on preexisting bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes; but they have referred it in the first instance to the immediate act of the people of America, to be exerted in the choice of persons or the temporary and sole purpose of making the appointment. And they have excluded from eligibility to this trust, all those who from situation might be suspected of too great devotion to the president in office.”
The result of establishing the Electoral College is it is reflective of the sense of the whole nation rather than a few select states. If we had left it to the states, then only a certain number of states would always choose the president, and the urban areas would always prevail. This way the election is spread out more evenly across the country and no specific faction can control the outcome. It is not completely republican, but it is close enough.
And finally, the best part about the electoral college is that it is a temporary body that disbands after the election every four years and is not made up of the same people every presidential election cycle. In fact, the system is so good that only two presidential elections have been decided in the House of Representatives. Once in 1800 and again in 1824. Additionally, we have only come close to changing this historic way of voting for the president once and that was in the 91st Congress where a resolution was presented that proposed direct election of the President. The House passed it while the Senate defeated it, and this is also another reason we have two houses to deliberate our legislation.
The Founding Fathers were truly the most gifted generation Americans have ever seen as their foresight has saved us many a time from an oppressive government. Let us continue to uphold that tradition and make sure the next generations are steeped in American history from our beginning. It is the only way to ensure their magnificent work continues to protect the liberty that man deserves.
