Historical Foundations of the Electoral College

The origins of the Electoral College are rooted in the debates of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where the founding fathers faced the challenge of electing a president without prior models to follow. Initially, there was considerable support for Congress selecting the executive; however, concerns arose about maintaining the separation of powers, leading to the rejection of that idea. After extensive debate and numerous straw votes, a committee was formed to determine how to select the president, resulting in the compromise that established the Electoral College. The committee decided to allocate electors based on state populations, incorporating the controversial Three-fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person to determine representation, significantly impacting the system's foundation and dynamics.