The First Longest Continuous Debate Our Nation

According to the first draft of the Constitution, electors voted for two presidents, at least one of which was from a different state than the elector was representing. Whichever candidate received the most votes would become president and the runner-up would be vice-president. This method worked for several years until, in 1800, the unforeseen effect of political parties resulted in a tie for the presidency between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, both of the same party. The resulting dispute over who the president would be led to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

The main result of the election of 1800 was the peaceful transition of political power and the tie between the two democratic-republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr with seventy-three votes each. The decision was then to be made by the House of Representatives. Due to Alexander Hamilton's help and persuasion by choosing Thomas Jefferson as the lesser of two evils, the House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as president and Aaron Burr as vice president. As a result of the 1800 election, the Congress and the states passed the Twelfth Amendment in 1804 separating the ballots for the president and for the vice president to prevent the same crisis in the future.

Even though most people assume that the Electoral College result is straightforward, this, however, that is not always the case. The first incident was in the election of 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, where it ended with the candidates receiving an equal amount of electoral votes. The tie was settled in the House of Representatives, with Thomas Jefferson becoming

The history of the Electoral college goes back to 1804 to the framers of the constitution. Many of the nations founding fathers actually did not trust direct democracy and wanted to create a system that had balance between power of the people and power of the government. As James Madison described , he was worried about “ factions” in democracy. “These groups of citizens with a common interest in a proposal that would violate the right of citizens or the nation as a whole” (Joe Miller), Madison's fear which Alexis de Tocqueville later named as the “tyranny of majority”, was that these factions could become the fifty percent and win the majority. Subsequently delegates proposed a variety of different methods to elect the president in order for this to not occur. According to Joe Miller’s article the delegates voted more than 60 times before they finally chose a

When the Framers began working on the Constitution, they wanted to create a government which could survive centuries with minimal changes. One of the most important ideas the Framers included in the Constitution was the Electoral College. They believed it to be very important because it would prevent the direct election of a president. As Hamilton explained, “the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station”(Federalist 68). This means that the Framers did not trust the people of the U.S. to make smart decisions on their own and wanted a way to control the voting. This was because the Framers feared that a charismatic leader could persuade a population of his views and end up creating a dictatorship. By using the Electoral College, the Framers believed that it would insure that a qualified person would take office. Another reason that the Framers created the Electoral College was to give smaller states more power. The Framers made it so that each state would have the same number of electoral votes as members in congress. This satisfied the smaller states. It meant that each person's’ vote in smaller states counted for more than those who lived in larger states. Overall, the Electoral college was put into place as a safety net for

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.

The constitution, in the 12th amendment, sets up the system by which we pick a president and vice president. The amendment lays out all of the specific guidelines concerning the electoral college, such as the requirement to only vote for the elected nominees. It lays out emergency plans in the case of a tie, and how electors are chosen. Replacing the guidelines in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, the 12th amendment states, “The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all

In the 1800 state localities had begun to create problems in selection of a president. By making slight changes the 12th Amendment altered the design of the Electoral College. (Kimberling)

The Federalists no longer held power in the presidency and in Congress and as a whole, were “destined never to regain national power” (Tindall and Shi 317). The defeat of Adams was the beginning of the Federalists’ decline and their party would gradually fade over time into obscurity. Even more important was that the election of 1800 demonstrated the success of the so-called experimental republican government. Jefferson’s victory showed that it was possible for the government handle the transfer of power from the in-power party to the out-of-power party. Even though the period leading up to the election was filled with conflict between the political parties, after the election the presidency was transferred from Adams to Jefferson without bloodshed or legal issues. Jefferson was unanimously recognized as the president and the government was established as a legitimate political body that could handle change, not just a dynasty of Federalists (Mr. Weisend). The election of 1800 and subsequent deadlock between Jefferson and Burr also exposed a flaw in the U.S. Constitution that the original Founders did not expect. The Founders originally gave each elector in the Electoral College two ballots to cast for a President and a Vice President. They had hoped that the two candidates with the most votes would set aside their differences and assume the roles of President and Vice President,

When the founding fathers sat down at the table to discuss the process of the national election of the highest office of the land they had a lot of things on their minds. For starters the country as they knew it was composed of 13 states, each with a cut-throat either be in

Another major fault of the Electoral College is the fact that it allows for a tie during the official Presidential race while on the other hand a popular vote would almost never result in a tie. In order to win the Presidency a candidate must receive a minimum of 269 electoral votes during the official election. There are exactly 538 electoral votes available for each candidate to win, one for each member of the Senate and the House of Representatives combined. The math shows that 538 divided by two is exactly 269 votes, one vote shy of the needed majority to become President. If each candidate was voted for 269 times during the official elections, no candidate would become President right away. Founding Fathers also did the math when the Electoral

It would seem that the founding fathers were a lot smarter than we give them credit for in 1792. This was the year the College, as we call it today the Electoral College, ratified in the Constitution of the United States of America by the colonies. This would also start the longest continuous debate our nation has ever experienced over a single political issue that continues even today. This debate came center stage during the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (Jefferson’s Vice President running mate)received the same number of electoral votes for President even though they were running mates (http://www.ushistory.org/us/20a.asp). This tie would lead to changes to the Electoral College of their day and the foundation for the 12th Amendment to our Constitution.

The Constitution of the United States of America created a system called the Electoral College where it outlines the rules in which we elect the President of the United States of America. As stated in Article 2, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution created the Electoral College. Each state receives as many electoral votes as it has senators and representatives. Therefore, each state, including the District of Columbia, will have at least three electors. This is the vision of the Constitution. Now the problem arises when all the Electoral votes from one state are given to the popular winner for that state. This causes a with people’s right to chose their leader as votes of the people that voted for the losing candidate are tossed in the trash. All this while giving the state the ultimate power to elect the president.

It was proposed that the election would be based on a combination of Congress, state officials, and the American people in order to avoid political manipulation (History.com). They did not want any chance of corruption affecting the election process. This being said they also made it clear that they wanted only the people educated on the candidates’ issues to be allowed to vote. There is a major concern today about if voters are informed or just following the social norm; the electoral college was established in hopes of avoiding this. Another suggestion was that the Vice President would be the runner up (Origin). This could have worked; however, due to the polarization of the two main parties, the difference of opinions would have created clashes and a stagnant

Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, our founding fathers had debated on which route to take when electing our President. In 1787, the “Committee of Eleven” had come to a compromise, and created the Electoral College, which is a group of individuals elected by the people to cast votes for the presidency. The Electoral College is described as “a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote” (Price). The reason behind the Electoral College was to preserve “the sense of the people,” while ensuring that our president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under