why did the framers create the electoral college?

1. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. But that is less a product of the Electoral College and more a product of the way states apportion electors. Second, respect for the Framers Constitution requires us to recognize that although the Framers thought majority rule to be the best system of government, they knew it to be imperfect. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president. To the contrary, their values, concerns, and purposes, as reflected in the text of the Constitution, must inform and guide the process of constitutional interpretation, but in a principled and realistic manner. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. In other ways, however, it is more of a concern than it was in 1787. For instance, if youre a Democrat candidate running for the presidency, you dont have to deplete your resources on states that are traditionally Republican and vice versa. Readers and donors like you make what we dopossible. The other electors chose someone more compliant to replace him. Slaves, who made up a big portion of the Southern population, couldnt vote. The framers of the Constitution established the Electoral College in the Constitution to forge a compromise between those who wanted the president to be elected by members of Congress and those who wanted a president elected by a popular vote. Even if states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia submit final tallies today, there is bound to be weeks of lawsuits, recounts, and general distrust of these results from whichever side loses the presidential campaign. Like many other aspects of our Constitution, the Electoral College was a compromise. The Court added another element to this understanding in Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942), in which the Court invalidated a law authorizing compelled sterilization. What is wrong with the electoral college? Why did the Framers create the Electoral College? The executive branch is one of the three branches of the U.S. government; it includes the president, vice president, presidential advisors and Cabinet, 15 executive departments, as well as hundreds of other bureaus and agencies. * Direct election would ensure presidential independence of Congressbut then you have the knowledge problem itemized above. The move, With about 35% of U.S. employees unhappy in their work roles, Slot Tracker set out to ask residents in various states whether they were satisfied with their bosses and why. As the walls close in, the Trump money machine cashes in. 2. To win the presidency, you must get a simple majority of votes from the electors. The best answer, grounded in the vision of the Framers and in the wisdom of John Marshall, has a long and honorable tradition in American constitutional law. It is time for a new era of principled constitutionalism. The Electoral College is a source of consternation once again for many Americans after the 2016 presidential election. Arizona v. Navajo Nation: SCOTUS Zags Back, Supreme Court Confirms Rule that when State Legislatures Act in the Amendment Process, They Do So Independently, Here's Why It Seems Trump is Always in Trouble, Listen! Why or why not? Accessed at The Library of Congress Web site. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who wins the. But I really doubt that it would work in practice. isthe Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. Subscribe now or log in for access. Your email address will not be published. They understood that political majorities may be tempted to enact laws that entrench their own authority; that in times of crisis people may panic and too readily sacrifice both fundamental freedoms and structural limitations; and that prejudice, hostility, and intolerance may at times lead governing majorities to give short shrift to the legitimate needs and interests of political, religious, racial, and other minorities. Although not short of controversies, the Electoral College is perceived as a good ideology for American politics. 28 Jan. 2008. The fact that specific states and their electoral votes are in the basket of one particular candidate or another makes it pretty easier and more affordable for candidates to campaign seamlessly. Constitution Posts in Audio Format, read by Rob Natelson, The Supreme Courts Confused Decision in Haaland v. Brackeen, Why Did the Framers Create the Electoral College?1st in a Series, voided his ballot and removed him from office, May state legislative applications limit an Article V convention? As I write this on Thursday, November 5, the presidential election is still uncalled. Passing a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate plus the approval of three-quarters of the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures (which has never happened). As the 2000 election reminded us, the Electoral College does make it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and still not become president. When U.S. citizens go to the polls to elect a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. Accessed at The Library of Congress Web site. Why did the Founders dislike democratic systems? Video: Do you Understand the Electoral College? Should the Electoral College be preserved or replaced? Learn more about the history and content of Americas defining documents. Experience quickly demonstrated, in other words, that a popular vote would work, and the strange contrivance of appointing electors by rules that could shift from state to state and election to election was now superfluous. Alicia is a keen writer and consultant for ConstitutionUS.com, creating engaging content that demystifies complex constitutional concepts for a wide audience. When James Madison faced similar concerns when he introduced the Bill of Rights in the first Congress, he maintained that independent tribunals of justice will consider themselvesthe guardians of those rights [and]will be naturally led to resist every encroachment upon them. Should Congress? In reality, individuals vote for an elector who has pledged to vote for a particular candidate. Video: The Trouble with the Electoral College, Interactive 2016 Presidential Campaign Map. So, then if both the Democrats and Republicans had been adversely affected, I thought we might have a situation where the two parties would be willing to recognize the flaws in the Electoral College and think seriously about jointly supporting a national popular vote. So, why did our framers create the Electoral College? Losers complain the loudest and make most of the media news. By the way, every time a presidential candidate won the majority vote but lost the Electoral College vote, that candidate represented the same political party. Why did the framers create the Electoral College? As best you can, explain how the Electoral College determines which candidate wins the presidency. A successful candidate for the office of the presidency therefore is a reflection of a cross section of states, from coast to coast and not just of a few highly populated states. Joseph Sohm What exactly is the electoral college and why did the Founding Fathers embrace it instead of creating a direct presidential voting process? What is the Electoral College? Federal agencies and experts say there is no link to offshore wind activities, although they continue to study the potential risks. They believed that a tyrant could manipulate public opinion. Design by Point Five, NY. It is no more appropriate for judges to refuse to enforce the Constitution against intolerant or overreaching majorities than it is for the president to refuse to defend the nation against enemy invasion. Why did they create the Electoral College to elect the President instead of relying on the popular vote? Also, when seeking his re-election, he secured 49.2 % of the nationwide vote, which is 0.8% short of the majority vote. Today there is still support for electing the president by a national popular vote, eliminating the process of allocating electors among the states by rules that violate the principle of one person, one vote. A compromise between popular vote and Congressional vote. Why did the framers create the Electoral College, and what were the historical arguments behind their decision? This is the Electoral College, and its members elect the president and vice president of the United States. Do you believe that this possibility must be resolved, or is the system working as intended? Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina. Probably the best defense for the Electoral College is simply that information in the late 18th Century moved really slowly. Stanford scholars offer expert analysis on election year politics and issues. Survey Did this page answer your question? I hope this answer is the one you're looking for. As shown by the countrys first 4 of 5 presidents being from Virginia, large states generally had more swaying power in federal politics than small states. And as some Founders pointed out, a president ineligible for re-election still might cater to Congress simply because he hopes to re-enter that assembly once he leaves leaves office. See answer Advertisement WorldCitizen One reason for the Electoral College was that the founding fathers believed that popular vote can be manipulated. Finally, if a president turns out to be ineffective its best to get rid of him sooner than six or seven years. With this in mind, so many people have wondered how the electoral college works, why it was implemented, and whether or not the Constitution should be amended to abolish the institution. why did our framers create the Electoral College, his video The Trouble With The Electoral College,, served another, more sinister purpose: to help preserve slavery, compromise to keep the more populous states. Still, to understand that compromise, we must contextualize this aspect of our Constitution within the time and place it was ratified. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have a winner-take-all policy that the Electoral College must follow. Sign up for our print edition! access to all of our articles every month. As CGP Grey pointed out in his video The Trouble With The Electoral College, the fastest way to send information was to write it down on a piece of paper, hand it to a guy on a horse, wish him godspeed good sir, and hope he didnt get killed by Indians or die of dysentery along the way. With the young United States being so large, time was needed to transmit the election results from the farthest flung parts of the country to the capital. U.S. government employees within the executive branch play a variety of critical roles, such as issuing passports, maintaining public lands, printing money, monitoring the economy, and supporting health programs. During the 1992 election, when he contested against the incumbent, To Eliminate the Potential of a Nationwide Recount, To Make it Easier for Candidates to Campaign, The fact that specific states and their electoral votes are in the basket of one particular candidate or another makes it pretty easier and more affordable for candidates to campaign seamlessly. Both of these claims, however, are central to todays conservative legal agenda. Q: Is the development of offshore wind energy farms in the U.S. killing whales? Alicia Reynolds holds a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree in American Studies from Columbia University. Democracyis an independent organization. However, it is important for the executive to remain independent of Congressotherwise our system would evolve into something like a parliamentary one rather than a government of three equal branches. The Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress. As we celebrate our anniversary and look ahead to our next 75 years, achieving measurable, meaningful change will continue to be at the heart of our mission. Most electors are loyal members of the party that has selected them, and in 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., electors are bound by laws or party pledges to vote in accord with the popular vote. March 24, 2021 Why did the framers create an Electoral College? Should the state legislatures choose the executive? Our constitutional framers would have declared him unfit to be president. The Bill of Rights. So if a candidate wins a state by even a narrow margin, he or she wins all of the states electoral votes. FULL ANSWER: When U.S. citizens go to the polls to "elect" a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. Unless the Electoral College were very large, however, this would require electoral districts that combined states and/or cut across state lines. Your email address will not be published. * In addition to the foregoing, the framers had to weigh whether a candidate should need a majority of the votes to win or only a plurality. The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. Misguided attempts to abolish the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment for which there is no widespread thoughtful clamor. This is an essential tenet of any theory of principled constitutionalism. Office of the Federal Register, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Web site, FAQ, 11 Feb. 2008. However, a selection of mixed-party electors has happened only twice: in Nebraska in 2008 and in Maine in 2016. Don't miss our latest facts, findings, and survey results in The Rundown. Also the framers of the constitution wanted to ensure that high population regions could not dominate the elections (preserving the voting power of lower population regions). The concept of liberty was recognized as encompassing not only freedom from physical restraint, but also freedom from undue government intrusion into such fundamental personal decisions as whether to bear or beget a child or how to raise and educate ones children. For an election outcome to qualify for an automatic recount, the difference between the two candidates must be 0.5% and below. Stanford News is a publication of Stanford University Communications. But the framers also wanted an executive who would be both independent of Congress and a check upon it. And in Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton stated that constitutional protections and limitations could be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, which must guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals from the effects of those ill humours whichsometimes disseminate among the people themselves.. If you truly had a popular election, the nation would be one big constituency, and the South would lose the advantage of the 3/5 clause and become a permanent minority. Like many other aspects of our Constitution, the Electoral College was a compromise. But their competitiveness is just a demographic accident. The, The present format of the Electoral College comprises 538 electors. Today, I want to explore why the founders set up the Electoral College. Americans in general have given up on the amendment process as a vehicle for constitutional reform. Justice Brearlys committee of eleven (also called the committee on postponed matters) worked out the basics: The president would be chosen by electors appointed from each state by a method determined by the state legislature. 28 Jan. 2008. Every state receives an allocation of electors equivalent to the number of representatives in both houses. By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) A key U.S. automotive industry organization says it will set performance standards for Teslas electric vehicle charging cords in another move toward using the Tesla plug on all EVs. The Electoral College vote sees the, To Guarantee the Rights of the Minority so that the Principle of Equal Protection Lasts, One of the critical roles of the Electoral College is that it ensures the best, To Eliminate the Need for a 50% Vote Majority to Create an Electoral Majority, This was the case in the 2016 presidential election where, Also worth noting is that there were some, Bill Clinton was the main beneficiary of the Electoral College on both occasions. Many of them, like George Mason of Virginia, thought that 19 times out of 20, the electors would only work to identify leading candidates, and the House of Representatives, voting by states, would have to make the final choice. Rakove shared his views about the contested Electoral College system. How To Fight For Reproductive Rights, Based On How Much Time You Have, Every Single Big & Small Way You Can Fight For Abortion Rights, 29 Years Ago, Courteney Cox Appeared In This Show Months Before 'Friends' Premiered, King Charles III Is Bringing Back A Major Trooping the Colour Tradition, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. What is the Electoral College and how does it work? However, these proposals could make the president beholden to state officials. But the application of those principles must evolve as society changes and as experience informs our understanding. What were the historical arguments behind their decision? The committee consisted of some of the most brilliant men from a brilliant convention. Don't miss out! Sign up for our email newsletter! The President of the United States is not chosen through a national popular vote because the framers of the Constitution adopted the Electoral College, which gives each state as many votes as it has members of Congress. isthe William Rand Kenan Jr. Following this approach, the Supreme Court has properly departed from the presumption of judicial restraint when governing majorities disadvantage historically vulnerable groups (such as African Americans, ethnic minorities, political dissidents, religious dissenters, women, and persons accused of crime); when they use their authority to stifle critics, entrench their own political power, or undermine the constitutional structure of checks and balances; and when they substantially restrict the exercise of constitutionally protected rights. The result is an unprincipled and often patently disingenuous jurisprudence. I believe the existing system has two fundamental I wish I could say fatal flaws. This system not only inflated the power of less populous states, but it rewarded the slave-owning South by counting their slaves sort of toward congressional representation (and thus, additional Electoral College votes) without extending them the franchise. Is the Compact for America Plan to Amend the Constitution Constitutional? First, in Federalist No. Not at all Slightly * Voters in large states might dominate the process by voting only for candidate from their own states. (The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, which is the number of senators and representatives it would have if it were permitted representation in Congress.) Perhaps recognizing that a theory of unbounded judicial restraint is constitutionally irresponsible, political conservatives next came up with the theory of originalism. First popularized by Robert Bork, Edwin Meese, and Antonin Scalia in the 1980s, originalism presumes that courts should exercise judicial restraint unless the original meaning of the text clearly mandates a more activist approach. Their basic problem was that there was no obvious model of what a national republican executive would be. One of the main problems is that presidential candidates don't have to win the popular vote in order to win the electoral vote and therefore the presidency. Hamilton, Alexander. As Alexander Hamilton stated:Talent for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to alleviate a man to the first honors of a single state; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States.. 1. In such circumstances it is necessary and proper for courtsMadisons independent tribunals of justiceto exercise a more exacting judicial scrutiny in order to protect our most fundamental freedoms and guard against those malfunctions of majority governance that most concerned the Framers. Learn more about the different ways you can partner with the Bill of Rights Institute. Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Inc. All right reserved. Using Disparate Impact to Restore Housing Affordability and Property Rights in Colorado, Amendment 69: What You Need to Know About the "ColoradoCare" Single-Payer Health Care Measure. So, why did our framers create the Electoral College?

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