Didn't know you were non-US..."Isn’t the constitutional purpose of the electoral college to protect state’s rights?" yes, that's why Madison proposed it....you are right, the ideas are truly heroic and were debated wholeheartedly by the Founding Fathers for quite some time...I mean, we completely won Inpendence in 1783 officially but didn't have a Constitution until 1787 so, yeah.....Hamilton didn't agree with Jefferson and Madison, but they compromised to come up with what they came up with. The whole document is a master class in compromise.