George Washington was elected as president by unanimous vote at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. In addition to his election, delegates decided to lower the term of office from seven to four years, allowed a president to hold office for more than one term, and specified Senate as the legislative branch which would oversee impeachment hearings.
In the midst of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the members of the convention had difficulty in deciding how to elect a President of the United States. So they empowered a panel, "the committee of eleven" to come up with a resolution. The eleven were Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, the chairman of the committee, Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, Robert Yates of New York, William Patterson of New Jersey, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Gunning Bedford, Jr of Delaware, Luthur Martin of Maryland, George Mason of Virginia, William Davie of North Carolina, John Rutledge of South Carolina, and Abraham Baldwin of Georgia. The first idea was to have the people directly elect the President. This proposal was rejected since people did not have enough information about their candidates outside their state as information flowed very slowly during those times. There were only 4 million citizens at the time. Another idea was to have Congress choose the president . This motion was rejected for the fear of outside influence especially from foreign powers and would upset the balance of powers. Then a proposal in having the state legislature choose the president was also rejected for the same reasons. Also the state legislature would choose the most popular person in their state and the candidate would not get a majority of votes to become president. The committee agreed on indirect voting by the people of each state choose electors to an Electoral College. The idea of an Electoral college came from the way the Catholic Church's Pope is elected. This method became Article II, Section I of the constitution. The Article also stated that the person with the second most votes would become Vice President. This only lasted 4 elections as a Constitutional Amendment changed this method. Other Amendments were later ratified to plug up other holes in the process.
electors chosen by the state :)tr678yu9iop[
Many People ,but mostly the citizens. good question.
The people (read: noncriminal citizens above the age of 18) of that country. The people of the United States elect the President by Popular Vote, but the Electoral College is the body that officially elects the President into office. (There have been 4 Presidents elected into office by the Electoral College that lost the popular vote, which means that the majority of people didn't vote for that president. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/uspresidents/f/pres_unpopular.htm)
Much greater
The Founding Fathers were afraid of "mobocracy" and were more conservative. They wanted to make sure that the majority of uneducated people wouldn't always necessarily rule. Even senators were originally elected by the House of Representatives in the early days.
electors chosen by the state :)tr678yu9iop[
The system the convention set up for choosing President was the electoral college.
Congress would elect them.
It Is the Electoral College
The electoral college elects the president, not the direct popular vote. There is a reason for this, but Gore supporters were disappointed when their man was not elected president after carrying the popular vote.
Delegates convened the Constitutional Convention to establish a better government and update ideas found in the Articles of Confederation. A growing population as well as lack of control over changing territories were major factors in choosing to meet in 1787.
Many People ,but mostly the citizens. good question.
It allows for faithless electors, or electors who do not vote according to the wishes of their states.
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 accomplished a great deal during the first days of the event. First of all, George Washington was unanimously voted in as the first President of the United States. Next they developed a framework for the separation of government powers that resulted in the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
It was not being chosen by the commons people.This is why today there is an electoral college.
The people (read: noncriminal citizens above the age of 18) of that country. The people of the United States elect the President by Popular Vote, but the Electoral College is the body that officially elects the President into office. (There have been 4 Presidents elected into office by the Electoral College that lost the popular vote, which means that the majority of people didn't vote for that president. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/uspresidents/f/pres_unpopular.htm)
it was established to prevent states with larger populations from always choosing president and vice president. it is still used today, but voters in each state, not the legislatures now choose electors.