where people directly or indirectly have the supreme power of authority within a state. The
Founding Fathers had established United States of America as a representative democracy, also
known as a “republic.” A major problem concerning the democracy in the United States was the
issue of electing the president or chief executive official. In 1787, delegates met from the thirteen
independent former-colonies in Philadelphia and made the Connecticut Compromise on an
agreement to settle this dispute on having the president either directly elected by the people or by
the states. This agreement had created the Electoral College, which has been a special means to
elect the president by having popularly elected electors in exact number of legislators in congress
from constituencies designated and drawn out by the states. Unfortunately, many activists have sought to abolish the Electoral College over the years.
As mentioned in the Huffington Post, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois's 2nd
congressional district has decided to make a compelling argument towards the disestablishment
of the Electoral College. As shortly explained, Representative Jackson had cited that the
Electoral College was a “major Constitutional flaw” in the design of this country and that
abolishing it would be “a worthy goal.” He asserted that slate-owning, white, and aristocratic
Southerners controlled politics during the late 17th century and early 18th century controlled and
created the Electoral College simply from fear of the more populated North, which also
comprised of more states, would dominate over the South and end slavery. Moreover, Jackson
preferred terminating the Electoral College due to the results from the 2000 election that resulted
with George W. Bush as the president of the United States and the demonstrated use of
American foreign policy that sought to reform countries such as South Africa, Albania, and
Columbia into direct democracies. Ultimately, Jackson had proclaimed he will continue to
advocate the destruction of the Electoral College throughout the remainder of his political career.
The following article from the Huffington Post clearly illustrated the information
presented in Chapter 9 from “Government by the People” concerning the desire change to reform
or abolish the Electoral College. As indicated on page 276, there has been an active proposal to
have the deciding factor of the presidential election determined through direct popular vote. Rep.
Jesse Jackson Jr. clearly has demonstrated support for this change in the process of the presidential election.