| FT-278673-21 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Michael Todd Rogers | Anti-Federalist Criticisms of the Electoral College | 5/1/2021 - 6/30/2021 | $6,000.00 | Michael | Todd | Rogers | | | | Arkansas Tech University | Russellville | AR | 72801-8819 | USA | 2021 | American Government | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 6000 | 0 | 6000 | 0 | Research and writing a journal article on the Anti-Federalist critique of the Electoral College during the 1780 Constitutional Convention and Ratification.
Founders like Hamilton and Wilson as well as historians and political scientists like Main, Ellis, Milkis and Nelson have suggested the Electoral College escaped much scrutiny at the founding. Main quantifies this view, saying he did not believe even twelve Anti-Federalists raised criticism of it (1961, 140). Given the last of the thirteen original states ratification documents became available at the end of 2019 through The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, a content analysis can be completed that shows Main grossly underestimates the number and extent of Anti-Federalist criticisms of the Electoral College. To promote the civic education of Americans and encourage more objective debate of it free of deference to the founding, a manuscript will be published in a leading history or political science journal (possibly the Journal of American History), which disproves the Electoral College lacked much reproach during the 1780s ratification debates. |