The framers created the Electoral College primarily as a compromise to address several political realities and concerns, rather than mainly out of fear of direct democracy or demagogues. Their key motivations included:
- Removing the selection of the president from the legislature to avoid legislative dominance and potential corruption or factionalism.
- Balancing the influence of states with uneven populations, especially protecting smaller and slave-holding states by giving them greater relative power than a pure popular vote would allow.
- Incorporating principles from earlier compromises such as the Connecticut Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise, which influenced representation calculations.
- Ensuring that electors, conceived as informed and independent representatives, would choose the president, rather than direct popular election or congressional selection.
- Preventing control of the presidency by large population centers alone, and providing a role for state-based influence in presidential elections.
In short, the Electoral College was a political solution designed to create balance between the people, states, and legislature while addressing contentious state and population concerns of the time.
