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Why Does America Have an Electoral College?

Akhil Reed AmarDistinguishedYale University

Professor

24:54·2026·undergraduate level

This lecture challenges common explanations for the Electoral College, presenting slavery as a key motivator and analyzing Article II's eligibility rules, including the 'natural-born citizen' clause.

HistoryMathematicsElectoral CollegeArticle IISlavery and ConstitutionPresidential Eligibility

The usual answers for the Electoral College are that the framers distrusted democracy, or that they were balancing large states against small. Akhil Reed Amar argues the data fit a third explanation: slavery.

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Akhil Reed AmarDistinguished

Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University

Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and one of the most cited scholars of the U.S. Constitution.

2 courses · 35 lecturesCanon
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America's First Officer, Part 1

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Presidential Powers, Part 1

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