U.S. Constitution · Article II, Section 1, Clause 2
Electors Clause
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Also known as: Electors Clause
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The text
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
National Archives transcription (public domain; original spelling and capitalization). archives.gov
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In the founders’ words
- “THE mode of appointment of the Chief Magistrate of the United States is almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure, or which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 68 (1788-03-14)
- “It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any preestablished body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 68 (1788-03-14)
- “The people at large was in his opinion the fittest in itself. It would be as likely as any that could be devised to produce an Executive Magistrate of distinguished Character. The people generally could only know & vote for some Citizen whose merits had rendered him an object of general attention & esteem. There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes.” James Madison, Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention, July 19, 1787 (1787-07-19)
Public-domain primary sources, quoted word for word and checked against the linked text.
Leading Supreme Court cases
- McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892)
- Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
- Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. 578 (2020)
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Cite this page
Values for America Constitution Explorer, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution (text: National Archives transcription, public domain), Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution/article-2/section-1/clause-2
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