SPOTLIGHT: David Barton on the Electoral College

SPOTLIGHT: David Barton on the Electoral College

Written by John Biver

Illinois Family Institute recently teamed up with Restore Our Constitution to host a special event with historian David Barton in Decatur. Mr. Barton is the founder and president of Wall Builders, and an author of a number of best selling books.

David Barton touched on a number of topics in his presentation, including the Left’s efforts to abolish the Electoral College and elect a president by a national popular vote. Barton stressed the need to understand the intention of the Founding Fathers when they created the Electoral College.

When the U.S. Constitution was being drafted, the population of just 4 of the 13 states made up over half of the country’s total. Thus, it was quote possible that a president could be elected by just the four largest states.

The same is true today when it comes to population centers, 20 of which constitute more than half of the U.S. population. States with smaller populations might well have little say in electing future presidents when 20 out of America’s 35,000 cities have the votes.

Barton asked — do the people living in the other 34,980 cities want to be ruled by just those residing in the 20?

Similarly, the Founders set up a bicameral legislative branch. U.S. House members would be elected by population, while the members of the U.S. Senate would be elected by the states. Wyoming has only one U.S. Representative compared to Illinois’ 18, but each state sends 2 senators to the Capitol in Washington. So like the Electoral College, Barton explained, both the population centers and the states have a say in passing legislation in Congress, keeping everyone involved in the decision making process.

During this edition of Spotlight, you’ll hear his comments on that, and later his thoughts of daily bible reading, and finally, Thomas Jefferson‘s efforts to abolish slavery, yes, that Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves.