In retrospect, Hamilton sounds naive and foolish, a little too desperate to sell his product. His vision of the Electoral College, like much of the presidency itself, depended on future generations’ keeping the faith and tending the norms of the founding generation. They didn’t tend them for long. As early as the election of 1800, electors gave up on the idea of being philosophers picking the best of their lot. They picked based on faction and made their choices based on political advantage, not reason.
