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| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard, 2012-03-08 This classic study — one of the most influential in the area of American economic history — questioned the founding fathers' motivations and prompted new perceptions of the supreme law of the land. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles Austin Beard, 1921 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles Beard, 2017-09-08 In his piercing introduction to An Economic Interpretation the author wrote that 'whoever leaves economic pressures out of history or out of discussion of public questions is in mortal peril of substituting mythology for reality.' It was Beard's view that the founding fathers, especially Madison, Jay, and Hamilton, never made such a miscalculation. Indeed, these statesmen placed themselves among the great practitioners of all ages and gave instructions to succeeding generations in the art of government by their vigorous deployment of classical political economy.In this new printing of a major classic in American historiography, Louis Filler provides a sense of the person behind the book, the background that enabled Beard to move well beyond the shibboleths of the second decade of the twentieth century. While the controversies over Beard's book have quieted, the issues which it raised have hardly abated. Indeed, one can say that just about every major work in the politics and economics of the American nation must contend with Beard's classic work. Beard's work rests on an examination of primary documents: land and slave owners, geographic distribution of money, ownership of public securities, the specific condition of those who were disenfranchised as well as those who were in charge of the nascent American economy.The great merit of Beard's work is that despite its incendiary potential, he himself viewed An Economic Interpretation in coldly analytical terms, seeing such a position as giving comfort to neither revolutionaries nor reactionaries. Attacked by Marxists for being too mechanical, and by conservatives as being blind to the moral purposes of the framers of the constitution, the work continues to exercise a tremendous influence on all concerned. The fact that Beard wrote with a scalpel-like precision that gripped the attention of those in power no less than the common man is, it should be added, no small element in the enduring forces of this work. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: We the People Forrest McDonald, 1991-01-01 Charles A. Bear's An Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution was a work of such powerful persuasiveness as to alter the course of American historiography. No historian who followed in studying the making of the Constitution was entirely free from Beard's radical interpretation of the document as serving the economic interests of the Framers as members of the propertied class. Forrest McDonald's We the People was the first major challenge to Beard's thesis. This superbly researched and documented volume restored the Constitution as the work of principled and prudential men. It did much to invalidate the crude economic determinism that had become endemic in the writing of American history. We the People fills in the details that Beard had overlooked in his fragmentary book. MacDonald's work is based on an exhaustive comparative examination of the economic biographies of the 55 members of the Constitutional Convention and the 1,750 members of the state ratifying conventions. His conclusion is that on the basis of evidence, Beard's economic interpretation does not hold. McDonald demonstrates conclusively that the interplay of conditioning or determining factors at work in the making of the Constitution was extremely complex and cannot be rendered intelligible in terms of any single system of interpretation. McDonald's classic work, while never denying economic motivation as a factor, also demonstrates how the rich cultural and political mosaic of the colonies was an independent and dominant factor in the decision making that led to the first new nation. In its pluralistic approach to economic factors and analytic richness, We the People is both a major work of American history and a significant document in the history of ideas. It continues to be an essential volume for historians, political scientists, economists, and American studies specialists. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy Charles Austin Beard, 1915 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Charles Beard and the Constitution Robert Eldon Brown, 2015-12-08 One could almost use the word momentous, or the word epoch-making though epoch-ending might be more to the point ... I don't see how anyone henceforth can repeat the old cliches which Beard put into circulation forty years ago.—Frederick B. Tolles, Swarthmore College. “American historians, particularly those who have given lectures or written books based on the Beard thesis, ignore Brown’s book at their peril.”—American Historical Review. Originally published in 1956. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: To Form a More Perfect Union Robert Allen McGuire, 2003 Many important questions regarding the creation and adoption of the United States Constitution remain unresolved. Did slaveholdings or financial holdings significantly influence our Founding Fathers' stance on particular clauses or rules contained in the Constitution? Was there a division of support for the Constitution related to religious beliefs or ethnicity? Were founders from less commercial areas more likely to oppose the Constitution? To Form a More Perfect Union successfully answers these questions and offers an economic explanation for the behavior of our Founding Fathers during the nation's constitutional founding. In 1913, American historian Charles A. Beard controversially argued in his book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States that the framers and ratifiers of the Constitution were less interested in furthering democratic principles than in advancing specific economic and financial interests. Beard's thesis eventually emerged as the standard historical interpretation and remained so until the 1950s. Since then, many constitutional and historical scholars have questioned an economic interpretation of the Constitution as being too narrow or too calculating, believing the great principles and political philosophies that motivated the Founding Fathers to be worthier subjects of study. In this meticulously researched reexamination of the drafting and ratification of our nation's Constitution, Robert McGuire argues that Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Mason and the other Founding Fathers did act as much for economic motives as for abstract ideals. To Form a More Perfect Union offers compelling evidence showing that the economic, financial, and other interests of the founders can account for the specific design and adoption of our Constitution. This is the first book to provide modern evidence that substantiates many of the overall conclusions found in Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation while challenging and overturning other of Beard's specific findings. To Form a More Perfect Union presents an entirely new approach to the study of the shaping of the U.S. Constitution. Through the application of economic thinking and rigorous statistical techniques, as well as the processing of vast amounts of data on the economic interests and personal characteristics of the Founding Fathers, McGuire convincingly demonstrates that an economic interpretation of the Constitution is valid. Radically challenging the prevailing views of most historians, political scientists, and legal scholars, To Form a More Perfect Union provides a wealth of new findings about the Founding Fathers' constitutional choices and sheds new light on the motivations behind the design and adoption of the United States Constitution. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution Woody Holton, 2008-10-14 Average Americans Were the True Framers of the Constitution Woody Holton upends what we think we know of the Constitution's origins by telling the history of the average Americans who challenged the framers of the Constitution and forced on them the revisions that produced the document we now venerate. The framers who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 were determined to reverse America's post–Revolutionary War slide into democracy. They believed too many middling Americans exercised too much influence over state and national policies. That the framers were only partially successful in curtailing citizen rights is due to the reaction, sometimes violent, of unruly average Americans. If not to protect civil liberties and the freedom of the people, what motivated the framers? In Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Holton provides the startling discovery that the primary purpose of the Constitution was, simply put, to make America more attractive to investment. And the linchpin to that endeavor was taking power away from the states and ultimately away from the people. In an eye-opening interpretation of the Constitution, Holton captures how the same class of Americans that produced Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts (and rebellions in damn near every other state) produced the Constitution we now revere. Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution is a 2007 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Charles Austin Beard Richard Drake, 2018-12-15 Richard Drake presents a new interpretation of Charles Austin Beard's life and work. The foremost American historian and a leading public intellectual in the first half of the twentieth century, Beard participated actively in the debates about American politics and foreign policy surrounding the two world wars. In a radical change of critical focus, Charles Austin Beard places the European dimension of Beard's thought at the center, correcting previous biographers' oversights and presenting a far more nuanced appreciation for Beard's life. Drake analyzes the stages of Beard's development as a historian and critic: his role as an intellectual leader in the Progressive movement, the support that he gave to the cause of American intervention in World War I, and his subsequent revisionist repudiation of Wilsonian ideals and embrace of non-interventionism in the lead-up to World War II. Charles Austin Beard shows that, as Americans tally the ruinous costs—both financial and moral—of nation-building and informal empire, the life and work of this prophet of history merit a thorough reexamination. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: History of the United States Charles A. Beard, 2022-06-03 This is a very detailed account written in textbook style and intended for study. The book begins with data such as population growth for each state and then goes on to present factual details of settlement, growth, politics and so on. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Economic Basis of Politics Charles A. Beard, 2019-04-18 Originally published in 1922, this volume is composed of four lectures which the author gave at Amherst College in 1916 on the Clark Foundation. The founders of this lectureship desired to help carry forward the eternal quest of mankind for ways and means with which to control its social destiny for noble ends. This book includes chapters on the doctrines of the philosophers, economic groups and the strucutre of the state, and the doctrine of political equality. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles Austin Beard, 1913 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Partisan Republic Gerald Leonard, Saul Cornell, 2019-01-31 Provides a compelling account of early American constitutionalism in the Founding era. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: To Form a More Perfect Union Craig R. Smith, 1993 This book presents research on the emergence of the Bill of Rights from the constitutional ratification debates through to adoption of the first ten amendments of the Constitution. Its aim is to answer the following questions: when did Americans first see the need for a Bill of Rights? Who provided the inspiration for its enactment? What were the circumstances that led to the proposing of a Bill of Rights? And why is it important for us to understand how our Bill of Rights came into existence? This study begins in Europe in 1456 with the historical framework that traces the evolution of the Bill of Rights; it ends with the ratification of ten amendments to the new United States Constitution in December of 1791. Co-published with the Center for First Amendment Studies. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Interpreting the Founding Alan Gibson, 2010-02-02 Now widely regarded as the best available guide to the study of the Founding, the first edition of Interpreting the Founding provided summaries and analyses of the leading interpretive frameworks that have guided the study of the Founding since the publication of Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution in 1913. For this new edition, Gibson has revised and updated his study, including his comprehensive bibliography, and also added a new concluding chapter on the Unionist Paradigm or Federalist Interpretation of the Constitution. As in the original work, Gibson argues in the new edition that scholarship on the Founding is no longer steered by a single dominant approach or even by a set of questions that control its direction. He features insightful extended discussions of pioneering works by leading scholars of the Founding--including Louis Hartz, Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, and Garry Wills--that best exemplify different schools of interpretation. He focuses on six approaches that have dominated the modern study of the Founding-Progressive, Lockean/liberal, Republican, Scottish Enlightenment, multicultural, and multiple traditions approaches-before concluding with the Unionist or Federalist paradigm. For each approach, Gibson traces its fundamental assumptions, revealing deeper ideological and methodological differences between schools of thought that, on the surface, seem to differ only about the interpretation of historical facts. While previous accounts have treated the study of the Founding as the sequential replacement of one paradigm by another, Gibson argues that all of these interpretations survive as alternative and still viable approaches. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and showing how each has simultaneously illuminated and masked core truths about the American Founding, he renders a balanced account of the continuing and very vigorous debate over the origins and foundations of the American republic. Brimming with intellectual vigor and a based on both a wide and deep reading in the voluminous literature on the subject, Gibson's new edition is sure to reinforce this remarkable book's reputation while winning new converts to his argument. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: American Citizenship Charles Austin Beard, Mary Ritter Beard, 1917 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Progressive Historians Richard Hofstadter, 2012-02-29 Richard Hofstadter, the distinguished historian and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, brilliantly assesses the ideas and contributions of the three major American interpretive historians of the twentieth century: Frederick Jackson Turner, Charles A. Beard and V.L. Parrington. These men, whose views of history were shaped in large part by the political battles of the Progressive era, provided the Progressive movement with a usable past and the American liberal mind with a historical tradition. The Progressive Historians is at once a critique of historical thought during this decisive period of American development and an account of how these three writers led American historians into the controversial political world of the twentieth century. Turner, in developing his idea that American democracy is the outcome of the experience of frontier expansion and the settlement of the West, introduced his fellow historians to a set of new concepts and methods, and in doing so doing re-drew the guidelines of American historiography. Beard insisted upon the elitist origins of the Constitution, crusaded for the economic interpretation of history, and ultimately staked his historical reputation on an isolationist view of recent American foreign policy. Parrington emphasized the moral and social functions of literature, and read the history of literature as a history of the national political mind. In recent years, the tide has run against the Progressive historians, as one specialist after another has taken issue with their interpretations. The movement of contemporary historical thought has led to a rediscovery of the complexity of the American past. Although he cannot share the faith of the Progressive historians in the sufficiency of American liberalism as a guide to the modern world, Richard Hofstadter believes we have much to learn about ourselves from a reconsideration of their insights. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles Austin Beard, 1986 Examines the financial interests of the constitution. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: How Democratic Is the American Constitution? Robert A. Dahl, 2003-11-10 In this provocative book, one of our most eminent political scientists questions the extent to which the American Constitution furthers democratic goals. Robert Dahl reveals the Constitution's potentially antidemocratic elements and explains why they are there, compares the American constitutional system to other democratic systems, and explores how we might alter our political system to achieve greater equality among citizens. In a new chapter for this second edition, he shows how increasing differences in state populations revealed by the Census of 2000 have further increased the veto power over constitutional amendments held by a tiny minority of Americans. He then explores the prospects for changing some important political practices that are not prescribed by the written Constitution, though most Americans may assume them to be so. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Idea of National Interest Charles Austin Beard, George Howard Edward Smith, 1977 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard, 2017-12-20 An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is a 1913 book by American historian Charles A. Beard. It argues that the structure of the Constitution of the United States was motivated primarily by the personal financial interests of the Founding Fathers. More specifically, Beard contends that the Constitutional Convention was attended by, and the Constitution was therefore written by, a cohesive elite seeking to protect its personal property (especially bonds) and economic standing. Beard examined the occupations and property holdings of the members of the convention from tax and census records, contemporaneous news accounts, and biographical sources, demonstrating the degree to which each stood to benefit from various Constitutional provisions. Beard pointed out, for example, that George Washington was the wealthiest landowner in the country, and had provided significant funding towards the Revolution. Beard traces the Constitutional guarantee that the newly formed nation would pay its debts to the desire of Washington and similarly situated lenders to have their costs refunded. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War, 1941 Charles Beard, 2017-09-29 Conceived by Charles Beard as a sequel to his provocative study of American Foreign Policy in the Making, 1932-1940, President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War outraged a nation, permanently damaging Beard's status as America's most influential historian.Beard's main argument is that both Democratic and Republican leaders, but Roosevelt above all, worked quietly in 1940 and 1941 to insinuate the United States into the Second World War. Basing his work on available congressional records and administrative reports, Beard concludes that FDR's image as a neutral, peace-loving leader was a smokescreen, behind which he planned for war against Germany and Japan even well before the attack on Pearl Harbor.Beard contends that the distinction between aiding allies in Europe like Great Britain and maintaining strict neutrality with respect to nations like Germany and Japan was untenable. Beard does not argue that all nations were alike, or that some did and others did not merit American support, but rather that Roosevelt chose to aid Great Britain secretly and unconstitutionally rather than making the case to the American public. President Roosevelt shifted from a policy of neutrality to one of armed intervention, but he did so without surrendering the appearance, the fiction of neutrality. This core argument makes the work no less explosive in 2003 than it was when first issued in 1948. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Novus Ordo Seclorum Forrest McDonald, 1985 'A witty and energetic study of the ideas and passions of the Framers.' - New York Times Book Review'An important, comprehensive statement about the most fundamental period in American history. It deals authoritatively with topics no student of American can afford to ignore.' - Harvey Mansfield, author of the Spirit of Liberalism |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Supreme Court and the Constitution Charles Austin Beard, 1912 |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy Michael Albertus, Victor Menaldo, 2018-01-25 This book argues that - in terms of institutional design, the allocation of power and privilege, and the lived experiences of citizens - democracy often does not restart the political game after displacing authoritarianism. Democratic institutions are frequently designed by the outgoing authoritarian regime to shield incumbent elites from the rule of law and give them an unfair advantage over politics and the economy after democratization. Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy systematically documents and analyzes the constitutional tools that outgoing authoritarian elites use to accomplish these ends, such as electoral system design, legislative appointments, federalism, legal immunities, constitutional tribunal design, and supermajority thresholds for change. The study provides wide-ranging evidence for these claims using data that spans the globe and dates from 1800 to the present. Albertus and Menaldo also conduct detailed case studies of Chile and Sweden. In doing so, they explain why some democracies successfully overhaul their elite-biased constitutions for more egalitarian social contracts. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Plain, Honest Men Richard Beeman, 2010-02-09 In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met in Philadelphia to design a radically new form of government. Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before the dynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who labored that historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—the extent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, most explosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provoke conflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented book takes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania, noted: While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, others have given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons to believe that it is the work of plain, honest men. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: America's Constitution Akhil Reed Amar, 2012-02-29 In America’s Constitution, one of this era’s most accomplished constitutional law scholars, Akhil Reed Amar, gives the first comprehensive account of one of the world’s great political texts. Incisive, entertaining, and occasionally controversial, this “biography” of America’s framing document explains not only what the Constitution says but also why the Constitution says it. We all know this much: the Constitution is neither immutable nor perfect. Amar shows us how the story of this one relatively compact document reflects the story of America more generally. (For example, much of the Constitution, including the glorious-sounding “We the People,” was lifted from existing American legal texts, including early state constitutions.) In short, the Constitution was as much a product of its environment as it was a product of its individual creators’ inspired genius. Despite the Constitution’s flaws, its role in guiding our republic has been nothing short of amazing. Skillfully placing the document in the context of late-eighteenth-century American politics, America’s Constitution explains, for instance, whether there is anything in the Constitution that is unamendable; the reason America adopted an electoral college; why a president must be at least thirty-five years old; and why–for now, at least–only those citizens who were born under the American flag can become president. From his unique perspective, Amar also gives us unconventional wisdom about the Constitution and its significance throughout the nation’s history. For one thing, we see that the Constitution has been far more democratic than is conventionally understood. Even though the document was drafted by white landholders, a remarkably large number of citizens (by the standards of 1787) were allowed to vote up or down on it, and the document’s later amendments eventually extended the vote to virtually all Americans. We also learn that the Founders’ Constitution was far more slavocratic than many would acknowledge: the “three fifths” clause gave the South extra political clout for every slave it owned or acquired. As a result, slaveholding Virginians held the presidency all but four of the Republic’s first thirty-six years, and proslavery forces eventually came to dominate much of the federal government prior to Lincoln’s election. Ambitious, even-handed, eminently accessible, and often surprising, America’s Constitution is an indispensable work, bound to become a standard reference for any student of history and all citizens of the United States. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Inventing the American Presidency Thomas E. Cronin, 1989 In fourteen essays, supplemented by relevant sections of and amendments to the Constitution and five Federalist essays by Hamilton--provides the reader with the essential historical and political analyses of who and what shaped the presidency. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 Alan Taylor, 2016-09-06 “Excellent . . . deserves high praise. Mr. Taylor conveys this sprawling continental history with economy, clarity, and vividness.”—Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the nation its democratic framework. Alan Taylor, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, gives us a different creation story in this magisterial history. The American Revolution builds like a ground fire overspreading Britain’s colonies, fueled by local conditions and resistant to control. Emerging from the continental rivalries of European empires and their native allies, the revolution pivoted on western expansion as well as seaboard resistance to British taxes. When war erupted, Patriot crowds harassed Loyalists and nonpartisans into compliance with their cause. The war exploded in set battles like Saratoga and Yorktown and spread through continuing frontier violence. The discord smoldering within the fragile new nation called forth a movement to concentrate power through a Federal Constitution. Assuming the mantle of “We the People,” the advocates of national power ratified the new frame of government. But it was Jefferson’s expansive “empire of liberty” that carried the revolution forward, propelling white settlement and slavery west, preparing the ground for a new conflagration. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Freedom in Constitutional Contract James M. Buchanan, 1977 Though written by an economist, this book's subject is not economics in the ordinary sense of that term. Instead, it is James Buchanan's contribution to what he has called the contractarian revival, the renewed interest in and emphasis on the metaphor of the social contract in evaluating political alternatives. He believes that genuine constitutional dialogue must take place in this country if America is to remain a free society and that the perspectives of an economist are valuable in the discussion of basic issues of social philosophy. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Framers' Coup Michael J. Klarman, 2016-09-16 Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. As Benjamin Franklin keenly observed, any assembly of men bring with them all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views. One need not deny that the Framers had good intentions in order to believe that they also had interests. Based on prodigious research and told largely through the voices of the participants, Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup narrates how the Framers' clashing interests shaped the Constitution--and American history itself. The Philadelphia convention could easily have been a failure, and the risk of collapse was always present. Had the convention dissolved, any number of adverse outcomes could have resulted, including civil war or a reversion to monarchy. Not only does Klarman capture the knife's-edge atmosphere of the convention, he populates his narrative with riveting and colorful stories: the rebellion of debtor farmers in Massachusetts; George Washington's uncertainty about whether to attend; Gunning Bedford's threat to turn to a European prince if the small states were denied equal representation in the Senate; slave staters' threats to take their marbles and go home if denied representation for their slaves; Hamilton's quasi-monarchist speech to the convention; and Patrick Henry's herculean efforts to defeat the Constitution in Virginia through demagoguery and conspiracy theories. The Framers' Coup is more than a compendium of great stories, however, and the powerful arguments that feature throughout will reshape our understanding of the nation's founding. Simply put, the Constitutional Convention almost didn't happen, and once it happened, it almost failed. And, even after the convention succeeded, the Constitution it produced almost failed to be ratified. Just as importantly, the Constitution was hardly the product of philosophical reflections by brilliant, disinterested statesmen, but rather ordinary interest group politics. Multiple conflicting interests had a say, from creditors and debtors to city dwellers and backwoodsmen. The upper class overwhelmingly supported the Constitution; many working class colonists were more dubious. Slave states and nonslave states had different perspectives on how well the Constitution served their interests. Ultimately, both the Constitution's content and its ratification process raise troubling questions about democratic legitimacy. The Federalists were eager to avoid full-fledged democratic deliberation over the Constitution, and the document that was ratified was stacked in favor of their preferences. And in terms of substance, the Constitution was a significant departure from the more democratic state constitutions of the 1770s. Definitive and authoritative, The Framers' Coup explains why the Framers preferred such a constitution and how they managed to persuade the country to adopt it. We have lived with the consequences, both positive and negative, ever since. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States and the History of the United States Charles Austin Beard, 2015-11-24 2 BooksAn Economic Interpretation ofThe Constitution of The United States&The History Of The United StatesAn Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is a 1913 book by American historian Charles A. Beard. It argues that the structure of the Constitution of the United States was motivated primarily by the personal financial interests of the Founding Fathers. More specifically, Beard contends that the Constitutional Convention was attended by, and the Constitution was therefore written by, a cohesive elite seeking to protect its personal property (especially bonds) and economic standing. Beard examined the occupations and property holdings of the members of the convention from tax and census records, contemporaneous news accounts, and biographical sources, demonstrating the degree to which each stood to benefit from various Constitutional provisions. Beard pointed out, for example, that George Washington was the wealthiest landowner in the country, and had provided significant funding towards the Revolution. Beard traces the Constitutional guarantee that the newly formed nation would pay its debts to the desire of Washington and similarly situated lenders to have their costs refunded.The History Of The United StatesAs things now stand, the course of instruction in American history in our public schools embraces three distinct treatments of the subject. Three separate books are used. First, there is the primary book, which is usually a very condensed narrative with emphasis on biographies and anecdotes. Second, there is the advanced text for the seventh or eighth grade, generally speaking, an expansion of the elementary book by the addition of forty or fifty thousand words. Finally, there is the high school manual. This, too, ordinarily follows the beaten path, giving fuller accounts of the same events and characters. To put it bluntly, we do not assume that our children obtain permanent possessions from their study of history in the lower grades. If mathematicians followed the same method, high school texts on algebra and geometry would include the multiplication table and fractions. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Business and the Roberts Court Jonathan H. Adler, 2016 Is the Roberts Court pro-business? If so, what does this mean for the law and the American people? Business and the Roberts Court provides the first critical analysis of the Court's business-related jurisprudence, combining a series of empirical and doctrinal analyses of how the Roberts Court has treated business and business law. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Men of Little Faith Cecelia M. Kenyon, 2002 During a scholarly career that extended from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, Cecelia Kenyon wrote a series of essays and reviews that reshaped thinking about the American Revolution and its aftermath. Beginning with her influential essay Men of Little Faith: The Anti-Federalists on the Nature of Representative Government, Kenyon challenged prevailing interpretations of the Revolutionary era by emphasizing the crucial role of ideology. In so doing, she helped spark a major shift in early American historiography. By bringing Kenyon's key writings together in a single volume, the editors have sought not only to reaffirm the importance of her contributions to scholarship but also to reveal the subtlety and imagination of her mind at work. Whether assessing the limitations of Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution, analyzing the enigma of Alexander Hamilton (whom she memorably describes as the Rousseau of the Right), or evaluating what was truly radical about America's revolution, Kenyon's insights remain as fresh as they are shrewd. As the editors point out in their foreword to the book, Kenyon had an extraordinary talent for opening up to scrutiny subjects whose significance had previously been overlooked. Although her originality may not have been fully appreciated at first, her writings had an undeniable impact on subsequent work in her field. Eminent scholars such as Bernard Bailyn, Gordon S. Wood, and John Pocock all drew on Kenyon's ideas in their own groundbreaking studies of the Revolutionary era, and today the pivotal importance of her essays is widely recognized by a new generation of historians. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Other Founders Saul Cornell, 2012-12-01 Fear of centralized authority is deeply rooted in American history. The struggle over the U.S. Constitution in 1788 pitted the Federalists, supporters of a stronger central government, against the Anti-Federalists, the champions of a more localist vision of politics. But, argues Saul Cornell, while the Federalists may have won the battle over ratification, it is the ideas of the Anti-Federalists that continue to define the soul of American politics. While no Anti-Federalist party emerged after ratification, Anti-Federalism continued to help define the limits of legitimate dissent within the American constitutional tradition for decades. Anti-Federalist ideas also exerted an important influence on Jeffersonianism and Jacksonianism. Exploring the full range of Anti-Federalist thought, Cornell illustrates its continuing relevance in the politics of the early Republic. A new look at the Anti-Federalists is particularly timely given the recent revival of interest in this once neglected group, notes Cornell. Now widely reprinted, Anti-Federalist writings are increasingly quoted by legal scholars and cited in Supreme Court decisions--clear proof that their authors are now counted among the ranks of America's founders. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Revolutionary Characters Gordon S. Wood, 2006-05-18 In this brilliantly illuminating group portrait of the men who came to be known as the Founding Fathers, the incomparable Gordon Wood has written a book that seriously asks, What made these men great? and shows us, among many other things, just how much character did in fact matter. The life of each—Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Paine—is presented individually as well as collectively, but the thread that binds these portraits together is the idea of character as a lived reality. They were members of the first generation in history that was self-consciously self-made men who understood that the arc of lives, as of nations, is one of moral progress. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Founders' Fortunes Willard Sterne Randall, 2022-02-08 An illuminating financial history of the Founding Fathers, revealing how their personal finances shaped the Constitution and the new nation In 1776, upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers concluded America’s most consequential document with a curious note, pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Lives and honor did indeed hang in the balance, yet just what were their fortunes? How much did the Founders stand to gain or lose through independence? And what lingering consequences did their respective financial stakes have on liberty, justice, and the fate of the fledgling United States of America? In this landmark account, historian Willard Sterne Randall investigates the private financial affairs of the Founders, illuminating like never before how and why the Revolution came about. The Founders’ Fortunes uncovers how these leaders waged war, crafted a constitution, and forged a new nation influenced in part by their own financial interests. In an era where these very issues have become daily national questions, the result is a remarkable and insightful new understanding of our nation’s bedrock values. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Gun Rights Philip Wolny, 2014-07-15 The gun rights issue has been among the most contentious debates since the founding of the United States. This instructive volume offers close but comprehensible readings of the Second Amendment set against the backdrop of fluctuating social and political contexts. Additionally, it documents the evolution of arguments for and against the right to bear arms. Readers will understand why this provocative issue has continued to rage in the courts and among politicians through the years and may do so for years to come. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: Power and Liberty Gordon S. Wood, 2021 Written by one of early America's most eminent historians, this book masterfully discusses the debates over constitutionalism that took place in the Revolutionary era. |
| charles beard an economic interpretation of the constitution: The Rise of American Civilization Charles Austin Beard, Mary R. Beard, 1966 |
An Economic Interpretation of - Texas A&M University
At [begin page viii] all events I called my volume "an economic interpretation of the Constitution." I did not call it "the" economic interpretation, or "the only" interpretation possible to thought. Nor …
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United …
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United …
The members of the Philadelphia Convention which drafted the Constitution were, with a few exceptions, immediately, directly, and personally interested in, and derived economic …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution …
Charles Austin Beard,2016-10-29 An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States In this superb text Charles Austin Beard meticulously and comprehensively analyses …
AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE …
Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948) was an American political scientist best known for showing the economic class origins and interests of the designers of the U.S. Constitution. He was born in …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the …
Beard and the Constitution: The History of an Idea
The History of an Idea IT is now more than thirty-five years since the first appearance of Charles A. Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. The story of its …
Microsoft Word - beard_econ_interpret_preface.docx
Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the American Constitution (originally published 1913) Introduction to the 1935 Edition.
Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution
Charles Austin Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles Austin Beard,1913 An Economic Interpretation of …
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution
Charles Austin Beard,2016-10-29 An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States In this superb text Charles Austin Beard meticulously and comprehensively analyses …
Microsoft Word - beard_econ_interpret copie.doc
In turning from the vague phraseology of Bancroft to an economic interpretation of constitutional history, it is necessary to realise at the outset that law is not an abstract thing, a printed page, …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The …
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the most influential in the area of American economic history …
Economic Interests and the American Constitution: A …
In 1913, Charles A. Beard proposed a view of the formation of the United States Constitution-an economic interpretation-that remains a much discussed yet unresolved explanation of the …
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The …
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the …
An Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution United …
Charles A. Beard's 1913 book, "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States," presented a radical interpretation of the American founding. Beard argued that the …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the …
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The …
Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation Of The Constitution: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Charles A. Beard,2012-03-08 This classic study one of the …
An Economic Interpretation of - Texas A…
At [begin page viii] all events I called my volume "an economic interpretation of the Constitution." I did not call it "the" economic interpretation, or "the …
An Economic Interpretation of the Con…
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
An Economic Interpretation of the Con…
The members of the Philadelphia Convention which drafted the Constitution were, with a few exceptions, immediately, directly, …
Charles Beard Economic Interpretation Of The Con…
Charles Austin Beard,2016-10-29 An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States In this superb text Charles Austin Beard …
AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE …
Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948) was an American political scientist best known for showing the economic class origins and interests of the …
