Image: Edmund Randolph (1753-1813). John Angel James Wilcox (b. 1835). Engraving, undated. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/continental-congress-and-constitutional-convention-from-1774-to-1789/articles-and-essays/to-form-a-more-perfect-union/edmund-randolph/
Compromises of the Constitution
The Connecticut Compromise
Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Congress would consist of two Houses. Representation of States would be based both on population (House of Representatives) and equally among the States (Senate). This compromise passed by one vote.
Electoral College
The President is neither elected directly by the people nor by Congress. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on the number of representatives in Congress (House+Senate). The electors are voted for by the people. The electors vote for President.
The 3/5 Clause
Representation in the House is based upon population. For the purposes of taxation each slave was counted as 3/5 of a person. This was extended to decide the number of State representatives. (This compromise gave power to the slave holding states and affected the election of presidents and appointments to the Supreme Court.)
International Slave Trade
Congress could not ban international slave trade until 1808. Although it did so, in the intervening years the cotton gin had been invented and slavery had become even more entrenched in the south. Slave trade became illegal but did not end.
James Wilson proposed that the president of the United States be elected by popular vote (elected by all eligible voters at the time). Both the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey plan had proposed that the president be elected by Congress. The Electoral College was created to keep Congress from having too much influence on the president. It would also prevent states with larger populations from having more power in presidential elections than smaller states. However, the Electoral College also prevented the North, who had more eligible voters, from having more power than the South, who had the same population as the North but fewer voters because a significant part of the population were slaves. Therefore, the South continued to dominate the election of the president for many years. Third parties remain at a severe disadvantage with the Electoral College system.
There have been over 700 proposals to reform or end the Electoral College; more amendments have been proposed about the Electoral College than about any other subject.
Image: This pass for the Electoral College's 1937 vote count was used again the same day for the President's annual message.Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives. https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/