ed in the U.S. Constitution. As such, it should be abolished, and a direct vote system should replace it.
             Up front it should be noted that while the Electoral College system took the day and was adopted by the framers into the U.S. Constitution, it was compromise because the other two choices could not gain a consensus (Peirce). In fact, most arguments for the system were actually arguments against the other two (Peirce). As such, now that the arguments against the direct vote system can be largely discounted, the Electoral College system loses much of its luster.
             In order to decide whether or not the Electoral College system is the best system for electing the U.S. President today, one must first know what this system brings to the table. A critical look at why the framers adopted such a system will best enable one to recognize the strong points of the system, and thereafter determine if the value of it makes sense in the 21st century. Although the framers had already resolved the question of how congress was to be elected in favor of the direct vote method, the idea of the president being elected by direct vote was not very popular (Peirce 41). In fact, Peirce suggests that many delegates favored congress electing the president, and it was from this starting point that the debate eventually led to the Electoral College system.
             Although many began with the notion that the best way to select a president was by election in congress, the debate on this subject soon illuminated the major flaw with this method. Fundamental in the U.S. Constitution is the idea of checks and balances, which by the very nature of a congressional elected president, would be put in jeopardy (Peirce 39). In the Federalist Papers No. 68, Alexander Hamilton stressed that unlike congress, or any other permanent body with duties beyond electing the president, the Electoral College would be free to act without influence (Hamilton). The fact was, if congress e...