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The problem that the Electoral College solves is that the constitution guaranteed the slave holding states that their political influence at the federal level w
by the_why_of_y 7y ago
The problem that the Electoral College solves is that the constitution guaranteed the slave holding states that their political influence at the federal level would take into account the number of people they enslaved.
For the legislative branch, this was done by counting a slave as 3/5 of a person for allocating seats in the House of Representatives. For the executive branch, there is only one president, and of course the slaves did not have the right to vote themselves, so an indirection was needed, i.e., the Electoral College.
https://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/# https://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise
- TMWNN 7y agoThe Electoral College's intention was to balance large states' power with small states' desire to not let large states run everything. The college had nothing to do with slavery or the Three Fifths Compromise. Slave states gained more power in the Electoral College from the extra 3/5 votes, but a) the compromise itself had nothing to do with the Electoral College's creation or design, and b) 3/5 of a vote gave less power to slave states than their preference, a full vote for each slave.