Election and Removal

This chapter points out how the delegates spent far more time debating how the president would be chosen, the length of his term, and the method of removal than they did debating presidential powers. It emphasizes that the mode of selection of the president was one of the thorniest issues the delegates faced during the period. It also illustrates how the delegates repeatedly argued over how to choose the president as some favored selection by the legislature, while some favored popular election. The chapter recounts the eventual adoption of the electoral college in the Convention as the closest practicable method to popular election. It talks about Wilson and John Rutledge, who urged that the president must be elected by the people at large, by the freeholders of the country.