The Electoral College, Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of
the New York Artillery by Alonzo Chappel
(Wikimedia) 

As many of you are preparing for Christmas and the holidays, political events, just like life, continue. Last Monday, the Electoral College voted to confirm President-Elect Donald Trump to become the 45th U.S. President. This should not have been a surprise as the Electoral College is ruled by mostly formal rules. Still, in recent weeks a forceful debate about the Electoral College was raging in the media, especially due to the fact that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in no uncertain numbers.

CNN columnist, Scott Piro, a few days before the Electoral College vote took place, made a case for abolishing the Electoral College in his article, "It's time for the Electoral College to fall on its sword".

After stating that "The Electoral College has contradicted the popular vote in two of the last five presidential elections, electing a Republican president in both those splits", Piro says: "This archaic safeguard (i.e. the Electoral College) from our Founding Fathers, created to stop an unfit leader from becoming president but having the modern effect of blocking the will of the people, will have proved its harmfulness to everyone. The flipping of the presidency from Trump to Clinton would be collateral damage or a big fat bonus, depending on which side of the aisle you sit."

Let's now go to the background of this socalled "archaic safeguard", to The Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays written in 1787 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, together using the pseudonym Publius, to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, who reportedly wrote the 68th essays of The Federalist Papers, titled "The Mode of Electing the President", said the following:

August Classic of the Month: The Federalist Papers

This month, Cosimo presents The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison as our August Classic of the Month. The last serially published essay appeared in August 1788, 226 years ago this month.

The Federalist papers contains 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in support of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and began appearing in New York newspapers in the autumn of 1787. Though controversy still swirls around authorship of certain individual essays, and the impact the papers had on the public opinion of the time remains open to debate, it's clear that the dramatic impact on global civilization of these spirited defenses of the nation's founding document cannot be exaggerated. 

As masterful examinations of the fundamental principals of the U.S. system of government, they are unrivaled -- as works of political philosophy, they have moved and influenced peoples and nations around the world in their battles toward freedom and democracy. This edition also includes The Articles of Confederation of the United States, and The Declaration of Independence. 

About the Authors
Alexander Hamilton, (1757-1804), John Jay, (1745-1829), and James Madison (1751-1836) are among the most revered of America's Founding Fathers, men whose animated advocacy of the new nation continues to reverberate in political thought today.

For a complete list of American history titles published by Cosimo, please visit our website.

Cosimo is proud to offer paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions of The Federalist papers at leading online bookstores including Barnes & Noble (paperback, hardcover), and Amazon (paperback, hardcover, eBook).