The Federalist Papers · Chapter
LXVIII: The Mode of Electing the President explained
Hamilton defends the Electoral College system as an excellent method for electing the President, arguing it combines the sense of the people with the deliberation of informed electors, guards against tumult, cabal, and foreign influence, an
What happens
Hamilton defends the Electoral College system as an excellent method for electing the President, arguing it combines the sense of the people with the deliberation of informed electors, guards against tumult, cabal, and foreign influence, and ensures the Executive's independence from all but the people. He also justifies the separate election of the Vice-President by a similar process.
Themes in this chapter
Republican Government and Representation
Hamilton argues that the Electoral College ensures the President is chosen by men selected by the people for that specific purpose, combining popular will with informed deliberation.
Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
The essay emphasizes the Executive's independence from the legislature, secured by election by a special body rather than by Congress, and the Vice-President's role as President of the Senate.
Control of Faction and Majority Tyranny
Hamilton highlights how the Electoral College guards against cabal, intrigue, and foreign influence, and prevents tumult and disorder in the election of the chief magistrate.
Characters to notice
- Publius
Author of the essay, defending the mode of electing the President.
- Alexander Hamilton
Likely author of this Federalist Paper, arguing for the Electoral College.
- Congress
Mentioned as the body that receives the electoral votes and from which the House of Representatives selects the President if no majority.
- The Senate
Mentioned as the body that selects the Vice-President in case of no majority, and whose presiding officer is the Vice-President.
- The Judges
Referenced indirectly as part of the 'persons holding a place of trust or profit under the United States' who are excluded from being electors.
Key passages
“The mode of appointment of the Chief Magistrate of the United States is almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure, or which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.”
The method for choosing the President is one of the few parts of the Constitution that even critics have praised.
Hamilton opens by noting the unusual bipartisan approval of the Electoral College.
“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.”
The people's will should influence who becomes President.
Hamilton justifies the role of popular choice in the election process.
“The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
The election system almost guarantees that only highly qualified individuals will become President.
Hamilton argues the Electoral College filters out unworthy candidates.