ABSTRACT
PRESIDENTIAL SELECTION: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Of the many issues commanding the attention of the Founding Fathers, few confounded them as much as how the nation’s chief executive should be chosen. James Wilson, one of the most influential Founders, affirmed this point as he defended the newly proposed Constitution at the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention: “The Convention, sir, were perplexed with no part of this plan so much as with the mode of choosing the President of the United States.” 1 Indeed, the matter was raised as early as the first week (May 29, 1787) of the Constitutional Convention and would not be wholly resolved until September 6-just eleven days prior to final adjournment.
