The Role Of The Electoral College As Envisioned By The Founding Fathers
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist Paper No. 68 that the purpose of the Electoral College was to prevent the elevation of those who only have "talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity" and to ensure "that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications" .
Hamilton also wrote that the Electoral College should serve as an obstacle to
cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one querter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union? (emphasis added)
In other words, the Founding Fathers established the Electoral College for the express purpose of ensuring, among other things, that the President wouldn't be a puppet of a foreign government (like say, Russia). Clearly, the Founding Fathers wanted the Electors to be free to follow their consciences and vote against those who posed a threat to our national survival. Unfortunately, thirty states have, in effect, said "screw you" to the Founding Fathers by enacting laws that attempt to force electors to vote for the candidate that won the states' election.
