When the Senate and the Electoral College were set up , rural leaders were afraid that their voice would not be heard because of the fact that their lifestyle and contribution to the country i . e . agriculture REQUIRES a lower population density . You can ' t grow the amount of food we do in this country and have the kind of population density you do in the cities , it ' s a physical fact . Got a citation for that ? In 1790 , the year after the Constitution was ratified , the rural population of the US was 3 , 727 , 559 . The Urban population was 201 , 655 . 95 % rural . 5 % urban . Urban populations didn ' t outpace the rural until 1920 . 4 . pdfI sincerely doubt they were concerned about urban populations overpowering agriculture . The only citation I know of that explains the rationale of the Electoral College is Federalist 68 , which outlines the necessity of keeping a madman out of office .