That may have been what many states did for awhile (since the Constitution says the legislatures may choose the method of selecting Electors), but Hamilton wrote the following in Federalist #68:
It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any preestablished body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.It was equally desirable, that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.
Granted, Hamilton wrote this during the construction of the Constitution and not the execution of it by the legislatures after ratification, but it shows the intent of the Framers as they were debating it. The Electoral College was envisioned to be made up of trusted prominent town citizens who were not already holding public office, who would gather, discuss, debate, and then each make their choice for President, seal it, and send it off to Congress.
The first time the popular vote was recorded was in 1824.
That was also when the first party nominating convention occurred. The process was maturing.
George Washington's father never became a citizen of the United States.
Irrelevant. That's why Article II Section 1 grandfathered every citizen at ratification as eligible to be President. The Electors would have known this.
Re: Bush v Gore...
I have no disputes with what you posted. I've offered up similar posts in the past, going so far as to suggest alternatives to the current system.
In fact, I'd like to see Electors run individually within each Congressional district, and let the Legislatures appoint the remaining two Electors. No more predetermined slates of Electors of party insiders that cause the current winner-take-all system.
This means not even allocating Electors via the popular vote of each district like in Maine and Nebraska. Take the Presidential candidates' names off the ballot and let the Electors run under their own names with any statement of pledge they wish to offer.
Remember, too, that in the 1860 election Lincoln (and others) had to distribute their own "ballots" because there were no statewide standard ballots that were sent to all the voters. Each candidate printed their own lists of Electors (because the ordinary citizen didn't necessarily know the names of the Electors), and the people voted those "ballots" at the polls.
-PJ
[PJ #87] Electors in the early 19th century would not have voted for a person with non-citizen parents.[wp #92] George Washington's father never became a citizen of the United States.
[PJ #93] Irrelevant. That's why Article II Section 1 grandfathered every citizen at ratification as eligible to be President. The Electors would have known this.
So, the electors did vote for a persons with a non-citizen parent, but that is irrelevant to your claim that "Electors in the early 19th century would not have voted for a person with non-citizen parents." Got it.
Any candidate who had a parent die prior to 1776 had a non-citizen parent. Jefferson had a non-citizen parent, and he got votes in 1800 and 1804.
The grandfather clause said nothing of the citizenship of parents. It said the candidates did not need to be natural born citizens to be eligible to the office. Nobody cared about the citizenship of parents then, or in 1880 when they voted for Chester Arthur.
That may have been what many states did for awhile (since the Constitution says the legislatures may choose the method of selecting Electors), but Hamilton wrote the following in Federalist #68:
What Hamilton anonymously wrote to the People of New York before the Constitutional Convention was just his opinion. Hamilton was the only New York delegate who did not walk out of the Convention, leaving Hamilton with no authority to represent and speak for the state of New York. That is why he signed Hamilton of New York.
Bush v. Gore, "the state legislature's power to select the manner for appointing electors is plenary; it may, if it so chooses, select the electors itself, which indeed was the manner used by state legislatures in several States for many years after the framing of our Constitution." All the states did that for 35 years with the first recorded popular vote recorded in 1824. Or, as you try to minimize it, they did it "for awhile."
The Electoral College was envisioned to be made up of trusted prominent town citizens who were not already holding public office, who would gather, discuss, debate, and then each make their choice for President, seal it, and send it off to Congress.
What was actually ratified gave plenary authority to the State legislatures; elected State officials. "Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors...." Elected Federal officials could not be electors. It was not until after the 12th Amendment that the Electors cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice-President. As intended by the Framers, they cast two votes each, without specifying votes for President and Vice President.
Article 2, Sec. 3: (see Amendment 12)
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.
The 12th Amendment cleaned up the mess made by the Framers.
Amendment XIIThe electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President....
Anyway, I was addressing what the Framers actually did, not what you would have preferred them to have done, or what you would prefer to change.