Again, as in the case of the legislature, the convention got into a heated debate about the length of the president’s term and the method of electing him. An early proposal argued for the president to be elected to one term of seven years, and the delegates labored to balance the time needed by the president to achieve his goals with avoiding a concentration of power in the office. Many term lengths were debated from four years to sixteen years before the convention decided to let the president serve for terms of four years. Then the debate moved to the method of election. Three choices were initially offered: letting the Congress pick the president, letter the state legislatures pick the president, and letting electors chosen by the people elect the president. The latter won out as being the fairest way to allow the people to control who would become president of the land.
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