The Electoral College was created by the Founding Fathers during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a compromise between electing the president by a vote in Congress and electing the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. It was designed to balance the influence of both large and small states and to serve as a check on direct popular election, which some delegates feared could lead to uninformed or faction-driven choices
. Key figures in its creation included James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, who explained and defended the system in The Federalist Papers. The system was chosen after rejecting other proposals, including direct popular election and congressional selection, partly due to concerns over the separation of powers and the influence of slavery on representation. The Electoral College allocates electors to each state based on its total number of Senators and Representatives, reflecting a blend of population and state-based representation
. Originally, electors cast two votes for president without distinguishing between president and vice president, but this led to problems resolved by the 12th Amendment in 1804, which required separate ballots for each office
. In summary, the Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as a compromise mechanism to elect the president, balancing various political and regional interests at the time of the founding
