The way the Constitution was written, it seems like there was almost an expectation that many -- if not most -- presidential elections would be decided under the special Congressional election laid out in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution.
The key phrase is this:
... if no person received a majority, then the House could again choose one of the five with the greatest number of votes ...
This clearly indicates that there was an expectation that a potentially large number of candidates would be running in a presidential election, not just the two major party candidates that have become the norm.
I am sure you re correct because one of the founders, I forget which, said that political parties should be avoided as they would be the death of the democracy.
How right he was.
What amazing people they were.