Dear Peter,

The odd arrangement for having the President of the United States elected indirectly through the votes of a small "Electoral College" rather than directly by a majority of the popular vote was among the last provisions written into our Constitution in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The Framers were in agreement that the new Constitution should provide for a national government that would be responsive to the interests of the common people over time, but they had very grave doubts about the desirability of a pure democracy.

We have a lot of confidence in democratic principles today, but as of the year 1787, no country in the known world had a democratic form of government with a popularly-elected president. Relatively democratic forms of government had been tried out in a few very small areas in ancient Greece and Italy and in early modern Europe - but in every instance, within a single generation or so, these early democracies had always given rise to unscrupulous rulers who sought dictatorial power for themselves by seizing the property of the upper and middle classes and passing it out to the poor. As the Founding Fathers saw it, the normal outcome of democratic experiments had always been civil war, economic disaster, and then eventually the replacement of democratic freedom by some form of stern dictatorial rule to restore peace and prosperity. The Framers wanted to design a system of government that would be responsive to the interests of the majority, but they concluded that popular government could last only if it had limitations on majority rule to protect minorities from unjust treatment. Election of the president by a simple majority of the popular vote seemed to offer too much of an opportunity for ambitious rulers to rise to power by taking advantage of the poorly-educated masses.

Indirect election of the President through a College of Electors seemed to the Framers to be a workable compromise. The people of each state (either by popular election or through their elected state legislatures) would choose a group of highly respected local people for a one day public office that had as its sole function the selection of a suitable person to be President of the United States. Since there was no personal gain to be had by becoming an Elector, it was expected that the Electors the people would naturally choose would be leading citizens from all across the nation who were widely respected in their own local communities for their public spiritedness, their good judgment and their wide knowledge of national and international affairs - that is, Electors who would be better qualified than the people themselves to identify and select a person truly worthy to be President of the United States. What the Framers failed to foresee was the rise of national political party organizations, near universal literacy, and the eventual development of modern mass communications media that would make it possible for all interested citizens to inform themselves about national politics to an extent unimaginable in the late 18th Century.

Thanks for your question,
Aubie and Dr. Johnson