ut three prominent delegates did: James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and James Madison (Peirce 41). Most delegates did not think that the American democracy had matured enough to offer a direct vote. Not only was the United States a huge country, but the framers of the constitution felt that there was no way that any candidate could gain national reputation. Furthermore, they felt that the general public was uneducated and easily led astray (Peirce 41). Supporters of direct election argued that after all the president’s job is to guard the people from the legislature; therefore the people should select him. Although eventually rejected, the debate over direct election was helpful in seeing some of the pros and cons of this type of election for future reference. When they had seen the pitfalls of these two systems, a third compromising system evolved, the Electoral System. This compromising system would have electors that were to represent the peoples popular vote in each state. The Electoral College is defined as the “collective name for the electors who nominally choose the president and vice president of the United States” (Electoral College I, 256). They particularly liked this system because it favored the upper class. The elector system was voted down twice, once because the electors had to be chosen by state legislatures, and the other time because the electors to be chosen by direct vote. Finally it was passed under the system of letting state legislatures decide how to choose the electors (Peirce 44). The next problem that faced the framers was how many electoral votes each state would get. Finally they agreed that the number of votes each state would get would be determined by adding the number of senators and the number of representatives together. This idea clearly gave more power to smaller states, but was necessary to protect their rights. Finally they had chosen a system of electing a president. Winston C...
