Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines college as a noun meaning “a body of clergy living together and supported by a foundation.” This word, though, is used to represent two of the most important institutions in American society: our Universities and the Electoral College. Why, then, does the lightest amount of research reveal this word is steeped in hatred and bigotry? Why does something that denotes two pillars of American life embody our deepest and darkest regret as a country? Irony aside, it is important to note why and how people of color, especially those whose family tree can trace back to times of enslavement, have been disenfranchised by the elite in America for years. In fact, both the Electoral College and American Educational Colleges were set up in a way to discourage participation in “white” society by black people.
The Electoral College was originally thought up by the Philadelphia Framers, intended to reduce the chance of close calls in elections and represent all white voters fairly and properly. Ratified in 1804, it served as the groundwork and gave way to what would later become the Electoral College we know today, or so one would think. The bulk of the nations population resided in heavily populated cities such as Philadelphia and Boston. The South, on the other hand, was made up of farmers, plantation owners, landholders, and slaves. As one could guess, the overmatched Southerners wanted to increase their pull in the presidential election process. Que
Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two-party system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.
The electoral college was established from the Constitution. When the Framers had gathered to make the Constitution, James Wilson from Pennsylvania had proposed direct elections. James Madison, however, opposed to direct elections in fear that it would put the south at a disadvantage by being outnumbered by the north’s population. This lead the Framers into creating
When the Constitutional Convention gathered in 1784 they had the difficult task of determining how our government should be assembled and what systems we should use to elect them. They quickly decided congress should have the powers to pass laws and the people should elect these people to ensure they are following the will of the people. But who should elect the president?
The founding fathers founded the Electoral College in 1787 and it is still in place today. It was originally founded because the framers did not trust citizens to make the decision of electing a president. The average citizen back then was not educated. They framers also chose the Electoral College as the method of electing the president because it allows minority states to have a say since all states have electoral votes.
In this week’s discussion we talked about if the Electoral College and if it is important or not in our country today. Do we really need to have the Electoral College? I believe it is important in our country today and I believe we should try to keep it in our country for as long as we can.
Created then consolidated by our founding fathers, its purpose served to balance the power between the populous states and less populated states. However, there is another reason and that reason is the founding fathers did not want a direct democracy. While the Founding Fathers wanted the people to have a say, there was one concern with this. This concern was that a charismatic tyrant could rise in power and gain the popularity of the public through manipulation. It would be Alexander Hamilton, who would address this concern and many more in “The Federalist Papers”(Williams C. Kimberling). The idea behind the Electoral College was that the group of electors could be trusted in choosing a qualified person who would then become president. This could all be seen within the constitution. The constitution itself is an ingenious set of rules created by the founding fathers, which has led our country to this day, more specifically a different era. The founding fathers wanted the constitution to be America’s fundamental laws and inside these laws, existed a fair way in selecting the president of America, known to this day as the Electoral College. Originally, the way the Electoral College was set up had made it so the runner-up would usually become the vice-president. This was a huge problem as opposing candidates usually have differing viewpoints on running the country and would not work together
The Electoral College was established by our nation’s founding fathers. It was recognized in the Constitution as an agreement between the vote in Congress for the election of President and the popular vote for the election of President. This election system created representative democracy instead of having direct democracy. The Electoral College began in a time when the federal government did not have the power they have today. The idea
The electoral college is an institution that every four years is in charge of electing our President, and Vice President. In school we are always taught that its the right and fair way to elect our president, but why? When the Founding Fathers created the process in 1787 along with the constitution certain founders such as James Madison thought the process would hurt the south and under a prior agreement set by southern slave states allowed states to count slaves as votes. This gave Southern States the majority of the electoral votes. In the first distribution of electoral votes Virginia(a heavy slave state) came out the big winner with over a quarter of the US votes where a state like Pennsylvania(a free state) had far less. The pro-Southern
The 2000 presidential election was a major eye opener for many people. As it appeared to also be the dismay of many, the candidate who won the most popular votes nationwide actually lost the contest. In the election's risen moment, popular attention centered around the Electoral College and its role in the presidential election. Under the U.S. Constitution, the people did not necessarily direct vote for the President in a nationwide election; rather, the people in each state would vote for electors from that state, who in turn would cast the constitutionally decisive votes for President and Vice President. Moreover, not only is the people's influence indirect, the Electoral College's voting pattern does not necessarily track the national popular
Presidential elections in the United States are commonly unfair. One might think that the presidential candidate who receives the majority popular vote would be elected president. This is not always true, because of the Electoral College, which is a “winner-take-all” system. Ever since the election of 1824, when Andrew Jackson ran against John Quincy Adams who did not win the popular vote and was elected into office because of the Electoral College, many other candidates have been cheated out of winning. The Electoral College should not stand any longer because in many elections it has prevented the candidate that the majority of the citizens voted for from winning. It would be difficult if there were to be tie in the Electoral
Soni, Jimmy. "What Is The Electoral College? How It Works And Why It Matters." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
The United States has used the Electoral College as a way to elect the president for over two hundred years and it is a main reason the smaller states have a chance to voice their opinion. The Electoral College has caused great debate within the US as to whether or not it is a political anachronism. The Electoral College consists of 538 total votes which are then divided up based on the population of each state and at least 270 electoral votes are required for a president to win the election. A consensus is taken every ten years to see if the population of each state has increased or decreased therefore changing the number of electoral votes it will receive. Some people argue that if the majority of the population wants a candidate to be president then that is the best way to elect someone but that is not necessarily true.
The electoral college is a system designed more than 200 years ago, in a vastly different political, economic, and social landscape, that has somehow managed to remain in use in the United States complete unchanged for so long a period of time. To understand the Electoral College, one must first understand where it came from; in the earliest days of America democracy as radical as exists in America today was neither the intention nor the norm for American politics. Instead, the electoral college was put in place so that a small group of faceless party officials could overturn the will of the people in the case that mob rule ran amok, and this group of people felt strongly enough about the
The Electoral College has been around since the ratification of the Constitution. Overall, 5 of our presidents have not one the popular vote. These presidents are John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush, and our current, “president”, Donald Trump. This is why the electoral college should be replaced because only specific states (swing states) end up determining the outcome of the elections, it is outdated for our new, advanced country, and already 5 presidents haven’t been the candidate people wanted more.
The Electoral College was instituted by our founding fathers as an agreement for the Presidential voting procedure. Once the compromise was agreed upon the system was written into Article II, Section 1 under the 23rd Amendment of the United States Constitution on September 8, 1787. (Constitution.laws.com, 2018) Generally, it was formed for the buffer among the populations of the Presidential election and as a portion of the governmental structure that allocates additional power to the much smaller states, which assists with the voting processes by offering them support.