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Letter to the Editor: More Perspective on the Electoral College

Regarding Mr. Pigeon’s well-thought-out and well-written letter advocating preservation of the electoral college, Mr. Pigeon provides a good perspective on the subject that can help people to form a fact-based opinion on this critical issue. 

Some additional details can expand on Mr. Pigeon’s views. Back before there was a United States, our founding fathers were searching for ways to convince the then-independent thirteen colonies to all agree to actually form a single country vs. multiple countries. Their fear was that the southern colonies with low populations (not counting slaves) would not agree to join if the president was chosen by popular vote, since then they would have less of a say in the election. The fear on the part of the southern states was, of course, that a “northern” president would abolish slavery in the new country.

The electoral college was originally formed to entice the less-populous slave-holding states to join the union. The founding fathers figured that a compromise that allowed the southern states to maintain slavery was worth the price of forming a United States of America, since at the time it was believed that slavery would just melt away over time anyway, never anticipating the 620,000 Civil War casualties that would be required to make this happen some four generations of slaves later. 

Mark Polczynski

Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin