Where did the US get it's idea of the electoral college?

The desire to put as many checks & balances on potential abuses of power even by the people themselves. The founding fathers took the responsibility of self government more seriously than modern American who take universal suffrage for granted

>>2279804
I understand why, but where did they derive it from? What was their model?

>>2279814
I think it was an invention of their own to ensure equality between the states, but don't quote me on that. What I can tell you for sure is that they looked to the HRE as a model of what the US shouldn't be, and argued that America would become as useless as it was if they didn't have a strong executive branch.

>>2279788
Britain

>>2279814
because it was the United States and not a democracy. The electoral college was a fair way of allowing the states to choose a president while still weighting it via population. Basically, the state legislators would vote on who they wanted their state to elect. It was just a method created to keep all the states happy and balanced.

>>2279788
no it wasn't the HRE, Madison considered the empire as a frankenstein monster unable to change with the times due to hundreds of years of laws, rules, and precedents. England was the US's primary model for governance, mostly because all the founding fathers were anglos and were educated in the english tradition. The Congress was supposed to represent Parliament while the President was supposed to represent the Monarchy.

>>2279788
>>2279804
>>2279814
It was a compromise to convince the smaller states to ratify the Constitution. That is all that it was. Just like the Senate. What incentive rid RI, Vermont, NH have to ratify a document that gave all the power to Penn/NY/VA? None. So the politicians from those states, like Hamilton/Madison, had to sweeten the deal.

People like to pretend that it was some grand design to forge a nation, but it was really just the product of negotiations between different states. The "United States" was not a foregone conclusion.

>>2280713
*what incentive did