Why did the writers of the constitution chose to have an electoral college elect the president?

Answer 1

The Framers chose this method of electing the President because the Electoral college allowed the states to be more decisive in the victory of presidents.

Respectable, well-informed citizens who would debate and choose the best person for the office were those that were expected to be chosen by the framers of our constitution as electors.

Answer 2

The Founding Fathers wanted an Electoral College to elect the President because they believed only the most intelligent and sharpest of minds could handle the presidential role. Back then, a vast number of Americans were uneducated, illiterate, and unknowing. The Founding Fathers believed the people were "too dumb" to elect the best qualified presidential hopeful.

Answer 3

1. They did not fully trust the voters to do it themselves.
2. Travel and technological issues made fully democratic voting nationwide for this one office impractical at the time, all other federal voting was at the state level which was more practical. The electoral college moved voting for the president to the state level too, then the electors from the states voted for president.

In my opinion it was mostly the second issue, that of practicality. However modern technology has dramatically changed this. But even though we probably could eliminate the electoral college now, I'm uncertain if that is really a good idea or not.

Answer 4

The framers were, themselves, somewhat aristocratic. They were wary of letting the whole of people decide on things, thinking of it as mob rule.