by Gary C. Gibson

Created on: November 03, 2008   Last Updated: November 18, 2008

The founding population of the United States was just 2.5 million (approx.) in 1776. Revolutionaries required caution in selecting and assembling representatives to cast votes for the people comprising the real power of the nation. The tradition of choosing a 'college' of electors to provide the actual votes that elect the President was a provident choice in light of the real geopolitical context of the age. Voters were generally landowners not as volatile or unknown as some voters enlisted today, yet electors provided another screen to direct the United States upon such a course as was agreeable to the founding revolutionaries. Protestant white males that owned landed were initially the most enfranchised class. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

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In 1787, Article 1 of the Federal Constitution was written such that "the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature". Article 6 overturned any state bans on Jews, Catholic or other religious sects "[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

The unreliability of 18th communications and travel, loosely time presentation of voters to cast ballots and other practical factors coupled with the desire of the more educated voters to install a firewall for the new Republic from fraud and mass social errors in political judgment made the ultimate electors selected by political parties and popular opinion zeitgeist buffer.

The founders got the idea of an electoral college from several sources including that of the Holy Roman Empire (962 - 1806) in which German princes could elect their own king who would then become the Emperor. There are a number of practical reasons why direct popular election and counting of votes wasn't practical in prior historical eras, and not all of those reasons are invalid today though they may have a modern newness to them; cheating at the ballot box, voter fraud and political brainwashing or trick events may corrupt the political expression of voters creating an opportunity for the selection of a malefactor to the Presidency. The electors can act as a last-minute buffer against corruption of election results and protect the public from deceit.

America was a frontier nation with substantial issues regarding vote collection, literacy and so forth. Today the United States is assaulted by a global broadcast

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