For many of the framers, the idea of a direct election of the President was not an option. The demographics of the United States were considerably different in the eighteenth century. The country was small and the majority of its citizens were poor farmers or factory workers. Those who controlled the government recognized this fact and consequently had no confidence in the general public to elect the best possible person to fulfill the highest office in the land. According to Citizens for True Democracy, a nonpartisan organization whose goal is to abolish the electoral college, "The electoral college at least in part, was aimed at preventing the general public from having any direct power in Presidential elections , for the fear of the "uneducated masses" having any direct political power." (cmcstudents.com). At that point, a few of the representatives argued for the President being elected by the Congress which would consist of the educated aristocracy. This would be similar to the English model however and having only recently severed ties with the monarch of England, who ruled with absolute authority, Americans wanted to create their own system of government. .
The Founders believed, under the influence of such British political thinkers as Henry St. John Bolingbroke, that political parties were mischievous if not downright evil. They believed that true gentlemen should not campaign for public office; their saying was "the office should seek the man, the man should not seek the office." Their goal was to chose a President without political parties becoming involved, without national campaigns, and without upsetting the carefully designed balance between the Presidency and the Congress. They also had to be wary of upsetting the balance between the states and federal governments (Schlesinger 12).
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These arguments continued as the Congress debated the issue. Although many began with the notion that the best way to select a president was by election in congress, the debate on this issue soon illuminated the major flaw in this method.
