How was the electoral college system set up at first and why was there six weeks between the popular vote and elector vote?

Answer 1

That's really two questions. We'll take them in order.

Initially, the electoral college was set up so that each state would, in a manner decided by that state's government (they could technically choose people at random out of a hat or something if they wanted to), select a number of electors, who then met and voted for president. This worked more or less as designed for about two elections, and then political parties started. This changed the playing field slightly, because now the states, rather than selecting electors whose opinions they respected, began to choose electors who pledged themselves to vote for a particular candidate, or at least a candidate from a particular party (there's nothing legally requiring them to follow through with this pledge; there have been several instances of "faithless electors" who voted differently than they had promised to vote, though there are no cases of this making a difference in the final outcome).

As to why there were six weeks ... well, since the manner of choosing electors was up to each state, there was some possibility that this might require a certain amount of time to count the votes or acheive consensus or find the person whose foot fit the glass slipper or whatever. Also, even after the electors were selected, there weren't airplanes or cars, and no matter where the vote was held, it was likely that at least some of the electors would have to travel a considerable distance to get there. Six weeks was considered to be adequate time to choose electors and give them enough time to plan and make the journey.