Treasure Hunts Word Finds Dates To Remember Glossary of Terms. With the Electoral College, for example, there’s no chance of a run-off election or a protracted national recount. James Madison from Virginia—where enslaved people accounted for 60 percent of the population—knew that either a direct presidential election, or one with electors divvied up according to free white residents only, wouldn’t fly in the South. The result was the controversial “three-fifths compromise,” in which enslaved Black people would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of allocating representatives and electors and calculating federal taxes. Today, most electors are bound to vote for their party’s candidate. We can call a... Are you sure you don't want emailed updates on our progress and local events? Everyone, regardless of party or political thought, should be … Not only was the creation of the Electoral College in part a political workaround for the persistence of slavery in the United States, but almost none of the Founding Fathers’ assumptions about the electoral system proved true. Let us examine, then, with a sober, a manly . Take this fun and interactive 15 question "Which Founding Father Would You Vote For?" The Founding Fathers often viewed their new government as an experiment, but this was an experiment they desperately wanted to succeed. the power I mean of electing at stated periods [each] branch. Vote for the candidates who represent your values and become the statesman that John Adams wanted all Americans to be. It's our obligation to use that inheritance wisely and pass it on to future generations. It certainly would have driven Virginia’s Founding Fathers nuts. The Founders also assumed that most elections would ultimately be decided by neither the people nor the electors, but by the House of Representatives. Plus, when you run, you want a majority of party members to come out and vote for you which means once you get to Congress, you vote with your party. Which Founding Father Would You Vote For? The Founders, in short, believed that American citizens have a duty to vote with thoughtfulness and intentionality. It becomes necessary to every [citizen] then, to be in some degree a statesman, and to examine and judge for himself of the tendency of political principles and measures. Patrick Henry. and a Christian spirit; let us neglect all party [loyalty] and advert to facts; let us believe no man to be infallible or impeccable in government any more than in religion; take no man’s word against evidence, nor implicitly adopt the sentiments of others who may be deceived themselves, or may be interested in deceiving us. They spoke and wrote openly of their concerns about what it would take to keep liberty strong, how liberty could be … Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY, left) shakes hands with Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) after the electoral votes from the 2008 presidential elections were counted and certified in the House Chamber in the U.S. Capitol January 8, 2009. Men of books. Which Virginian founding father first gained attention after the case "Parsons Cause" and later went on the be an influential figure in the fight against the stamp act and in the Boston Tea party? But as soon as national political parties formed, the number of presidential candidates shrank. As Americans, it's a day we should be proud of. One group of delegates felt strongly that Congress shouldn’t have anything to do with picking the president. . The Founding Fathers were, of course, concerned with the will of the people, but taken as a whole, the debate underway today seems to hold very little resemblance to … If it was, ten year olds could vote. Any semblance of elector independence has been fully wiped out. Click here to find out where to vote on Election Day. For 32 of the United States’ first 36 years, a slave-holding Virginian occupied the White House (John Adams from Massachusetts was the exception). Columnist George Will shudders to think of what would have happened in the 1960 election if there had been no Electoral College. They cobbled together this plan because they couldn’t agree on anything else.”. The Founding Fathers debated for months, with some arguing that Congress should pick the president and others insistent on a democratic popular vote. Only two U.S. elections have been decided by the House and the last one was in 1824. At the time of the Philadelphia convention, no other country in the world directly elected its chief executive, so the delegates were wading into uncharted territory. “The right of suffrage was much more diffusive [i.e., extensive] in the Northern than the Southern States,” said Madison, “and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes.”. The assumption was that each elector’s vote would be counted. It was the same issue that plagued the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives: should or shouldn’t the Founders include slaves in counting a state’s population? The system calls for the creation, every four years, of a temporary group of electors equal to the total number of representatives in Congress. Quotes from the Founding Fathers: On the importance of Voting – Check your registration or register to Vote John Adams. To hear our Founding Fathers speak of liberty and freedom you might believe that they had some knowledge and experience with the subject matter. Echoing John Adams' sentiment, Samuel Adams called voting "one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.". The Founders never dealt with Islamic terrorism, global warming, illegal immigration, healthcare reform, and all of the other issues of the 21st century. Wow! The party in power typically benefits from the existence of the Electoral College, says Edwards, and the minority party has little chance of changing the system because a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds supermajority in Congress plus ratification by three-fourths of the states. We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands; we have a check upon two branches of the legislature . © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. These intermediaries wouldn’t be picked by Congress or elected by the people. Unlike many other countries around the world, our country hosts peaceful, orderly elections every two years. After all, the fledgling nation had just fought its way out from under a tyrannical king and overreaching colonial governors. Article I • Article II • Article III • Article IV • Article V • Article VI • Article VII . You have the foresight of Jefferson, the leadership of Washington, and the vision of Benjamin Franklin. You also think women should never, ever have the ability to vote and, more than likely, owned slaves. Did you know? You're all of them! Powered by the principles laid out in our Constitution, We the People have the right to have our voices heard and decide who will represent us. . How did they recommend the American people choose their representatives? READ MORE: How Are Electoral College Electors Chosen? . Convention Of States. This has led some to question why Americans use this system to elect their presidents in the first place. I believe our Founding Fathers would have agreed. Vote for the candidates who represent your values and become the statesman that John Adams wanted all Americans to be. Second, they feared a headstrong “democratic mob” steering the country astray. Among the many thorny questions debated by the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, one of the hardest to resolve was how to elect the president. . Which Founding Father Are You? November 01, 2020 by Kevin Beckman. That's why we're encouraging all of our supporters to get out and vote. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! By NANCY BENAC December 15, 2016 GMT. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the United States Declarat ARTICLE: John Hart, Founding Father, Sacrificed Much for America Click here to find out where to vote on Election Day. U.S. history quiz to find out! Another camp was dead set against letting the people elect the president by a straight popular vote. Limiting ourselves to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, and assuming that all of these men know enough about the modern world to understand the issues in the 2016 election, here's how I think they would react. The Founding fathers have been hammered by liberals for years that they were racists and discriminated against others in a variety of issues. We made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote! Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth in 1787 drafting The Great Compromise, a plan for representation in Congress. Blog . In modern elections, the first candidate to get 270 of the 538 total electoral votes wins the White House. only one of them are founding fathers and i think they would vote as they see fit, seeing as they believed in what George Washington believed in no political parties. "One of … And even more important, the Constitution says nothing about how the states should allot their electoral votes. The Electoral College was never intended to be the “perfect” system for picking the president, says George Edwards III, emeritus political science professor at Texas A&M University. Which Founding Father Would You Vote For? And third, a populist president appealing directly to the people could command dangerous amounts of power. Here's the pitch. Some of the most significant Founders were George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson, who all played an important role in the development of the country.. As well as overthrowing colonial rule, the Founding Fathers were said to be just as successful and adept in peacetime, with the group of men … We respect your privacy, but we don't want you to feel left out! duty to vote, founding fathers of america, religious freedom, threats to religious freedom Keep this news available to you and millions more Your gift will spread truth, defeat lies, and save lives Citizens concerned for the future of their country, under a federal government that's increasingly bloated, corrupt, reckless and invasive, have a constitutional option. Out of those drawn-out debates came a compromise based on the idea of electoral intermediaries. We have received a rich inheritance from previous generations, men and women who protected our constitutional republic and gave us the ability to make our voices heard. But over time, all but two states (Maine and Nebraska) passed laws to give all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote count. Click here to find out where to vote on Election Day. In 1787, roughly 40 percent of people living in the Southern states were enslaved Black people, who couldn’t vote. I think that may be an easy one to answer. They didn’t want another despot on their hands. WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s time for America to get up to speed again on the Electoral College, that oddball way the nation selects its president every four years. “It wasn’t like the Founders said, ‘Hey, what a great idea! READ MORE: How the Great Compromise Affects Politics Today. What day did the Second Continental Congress vote for independence? When the impeachment process was first raised at the 1787 convention in Philadelphia, it led to a furious argument among the delegates. Founding Fathers, the most prominent statesmen of America’s Revolutionary generation, responsible for the successful war for colonial independence from Great Britain, the liberal ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence, and the republican form of government defined in … The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of American leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and built a frame of government for the new United States of America upon republican principles during the latter decades of the 18th century.. For starters, there were no political parties in 1787. The signing of the Constitution of the United States at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) by Gilbert Stuart, oil on canvas, 1796. The Founding Fathers knew that as the nation grew and the time required for debating and voting on every issue increased, the public’s desire to take part in the process would quickly decrease. Where differences arose, the Founding Fathers hammered out compromises, working together for more than four months to “form a more perfect union,” as described in the preamble to the Constitution. Treasure Hunts Word Finds Dates To Remember Glossary of Terms. Further complicating the task was a deep-rooted distrust of executive power. July 2, 1776. The Founding Fathers placed power in the people rather than a monarch, but they feared tyranny over a minority. The compromise ensured that Southern states would ratify the Constitution and gave Virginia, home to more than 200,000 slaves, a quarter (12) of the total electoral votes required to win the presidency (46). While the federal government is in need of several long-term reforms to limit its power and balance its checkbook, the overall system our Founders designed has allowed our country to become prosperous, law-abiding, and free. That was the wind up. . Founding Fathers distrusted popular vote to pick a president. Please enable cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website, Published in Almost every time I give this talk, someone wants to know what the Founding Fathers would find most surprising about today’s America. The limitations that the Founding Fathers placed on "one man, one vote" were almost all designed to bias the electorate towards men of education, knowledge, social responsibility. Who, in your opinion, would the Founding Fathers vote for in the presidential election of 2008? on You're all of the founding fathers. . Tomorrow our nation will choose our president, dozens of federal representatives, and hundreds of state and local officials. After the unanimous election of George Washington as the nation’s first president, the Founders figured that consequent elections would feature tons of candidates who would divide up the electoral pie into tiny chunks, giving Congress a chance to pick the winner. The Papers of George Washington. Plus the old-school electoral system has its benefits. The Constitution of the United States. We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands; we have a check upon two branches of the legislature . Five times in history, presidential candidates have won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College. Now, it may seem counterintuitive that our founding fathers were worried about entrusting power to voters because, after all, it was our founding fathers who created this great democracy of the United States. 1 decade ago. Libertarian or Ron Paul. “If all 68,838,219 popular votes had been poured into a single national bucket, there would have been powerful incentives to challenge the results in many of the nation’s 170,000 precincts.”, READ MORE: Presidents Who Lost the Popular Vote But Won the Election. The Founding Fathers had to compromise when it came to devising a system to elect the president. So you know where I am going with this. People should qualify to vote. Our country must find a way to move beyond the hatred and divisiveness that pervades our political system. But determining exactly how many electors to assign to each state was another sticking point. Although many of the Founding Fathers acknowledged that slavery violated the core American Revolutionary ideal of liberty, their simultaneous commitment to private property rights, principles of limited government, and intersectional harmony prevented them from making a bold move against slavery. “They were tired, impatient, frustrated. 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