Independence via ineligibility
Commentary
If the executive magistrate were to be chosen by the legislatures, and especially for the term of seven years that had been agreed at this moment, then an alternative way to ensure that the magistrate did not become a creature of the legislative branch was simply to forbid re-election.
The concern of this proposal, again, seems to have been to ensure that the executive magistrate did feel true independence from the legislature --- and would, in fact, reflect a proper separation of powers by being a truly independent branch of government.
This proposal was clearly at odds with those arguing for a more accountable executive, whether that meant accountable to the national legislature or to the states. Democratic accountability, in the sense of a direct relationship with the people, does not appear to have exercised members of the Convention much at all at this stage.
Associated event
Virginia Plan [Resolutions] - Seventh Resolution (Executive Branch): Ineligibility Clause (Original) was proposed
on 02 June 1787None
Independence via ineligibility by Dr Nicholas Cole (npcole)
The Creation of the Electoral College
Cite as: Dr Nicholas Cole, ‘Independence via ineligibility’ in N. P. Cole, Grace Mallon and Kat Howarth, The Creation of the Electoral College, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, 2016), item 64.