Many Americans revere the Constitution as a virtually unassailable document. They view counter-majoritarian institutions like the Senate and the Electoral College as part of a carefully calibrated system of checks and balances designed by extraordinarily prescient leaders. This is a myth. The framers were a talented group of men who forged the world’s most enduring constitution. But our counter-majoritarian institutions were not part of a well-thought-out master plan. Indeed, two of America’s most prominent framers, Hamilton and Madison, opposed many of them.
