# Resolved:  The Electoral College was created to keep the slave states in the Union

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-electoral-college-was-created-to-keep-the-slave-states-in-the-union/792646>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 2, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-electoral-college-was-created-to-keep-the-slave-states-in-the-union/792646 "2017-08-02T19:35:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-electoral-college-was-created-to-keep-the-slave-states-in-the-union/792646/7 "2017-08-02T20:28:45Z")

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> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> It was created as a form of checks and balances. If the President was elected by the Legislature, then there is the risk that he would hold that position due to horse trading within the Legislature, and so be their puppet. Similar, if he was elected by the state governments. However, popular election makes him a force for the aims of the largest factions, and the purpose of government is to diminish faction and protect minorities.
> 
> The Electoral College was the only thing they could come up with that no one could make a strong argument against. The random citizens who were chosen by the states would not have anything they want in trade, the state would _certainly_ elect intelligent and non-partisan electors, and so everything would be wonderful.

But they forgot to spell it out in the Constitution so the state governments were quite free to select the electors themselves under the wording. Originally, a quick look tells me 6 states did just that. Let’s you know how much people at the time did not give a crap about “original intent” of the Founding Fathers.

Thought I’d steal this from the other thread:

> [@Hillary Clinton did not run a terrible campaign](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-did-not-run-a-terrible-campaign/792305/190):
>
> At the time of the signing of the constitution, the most populous states was
> 
> 1. Virginia 447,016 (slave state)
> 2. Pennsylvania 240,057 (free state)
> 3. Massachusetts 235,808 (free state)
> 4. Maryland 202,599 (slave state)
> 5. North Carolina 197,200 (slave state)
> 6. Connecticut 183,881 (free state)
> 7. New York 162,920 (slave state)
> 8. South Carolina 124,244 (slave state
> 9. New Jersey 117,431 (slave state)
> 10. Rhode Island 58,196 (free state)
> 11. New Hampshire 62,396 (free state)
> 12. Delaware 35,496 (slave state)
> 13. Georgia 23,375 (slave state)
> 
> ISTM that there were plenty of small free states in new England and some of the largest states were slave states.
> 
> So how do you figure the electoral system had anything to do with slavery?
> 
> Wasn’t it more about enticing small states to join the union?

Which is strong evidence for me that it wasn’t really a slave issue. My only questioning is: how much of those numbers were slaves and how many of those slave states were on the cusp of abolition? There were slave states and then there were SLAVE STATES!

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