I. There is a folklore that America was settled by men who fled the feudal and clerical oppositions of the Old World.

II. *One of the central characteristics of a nonfeudal society is that it lacks a genuine revolutionary tradition.
    *It also lacks a tradition of reaction.
    *Socialism is largely an ideological phenomenon arising out of the principles of class and the revolutionary liberal revolt against them.
    *America has uniquely lacked a feudal tradition as well as a socialist tradition.
    *If the ancient regime is not present to begin with, one thing follows automatically: it does not return in a blaze of glory. 
    *Socialism arises not only to fight capitalism, but remnants of feudalism itself.
    *The basic ethical problem of a liberal society is not the danger of the majority but the danger of unanimity. 
 

“Beard’s closely argued thesis has long stimulated debate as to whether particular material interests or broader political values were the dominant inspirations for the constitutional framework that was drafted in 1787”

I. Sources

a. The Constitution itself
b. The correspondence between statesmen and those involved in the document’s construction
c. Newspapers and pamphlets from the period
d. The recorded debates of the state conventions and the Philadelphia Convention
e. And, of course, The Federalist

a. Pwr to lay and collect taxes

i.  Southern states had sparser populations of whites and larger estates, so their fears of being over-taxed were allayed by:

1. the 3/5s compromise
2. a flat tax for land, the same nationwide
3. better assurance of having runaway slaves returned

ii. States in general were reassured by Congress’ new power b/c it meant fewer encroachments on their govt. funds
iii. Wealthier men were reassured by the provision stating that direct taxation would be based on population and would therefore be a last resort
iv. Hamilton assured readers that the tax system would be regressive:  indirect taxes on goods and services would be primary; direct taxes based on wealth would not exist except in emergencies and then only as a flat tax on land

b. Unlimited pwr to raise and support military and naval forces

i. In The Federalist, Hamilton, Jay, and Madison “regarded trade and commerce as the fundamental cause of wars b/w nations; and the source of domestic insurrection they traced to class conflicts within society”
ii. A strong and orderly national govt. equipped w/ and equally strong military and navy would deter attacks from jealous and greedy neighbors
iii. It would also afford great bargaining pwr in opening foreign markets and enjoying commercial privileges b/c our neutrality or alliance would likely decide European conflicts
iv. As for quelling internal insurrections, the wealthy were comforted by the promise of aid in the event of a populist uprising (north) or a slave revolt (south)

c. Unlimited pwr to regulate foreign and interstate commerce

i. Allowed Congress to use regulations in coherence and conjunction w/ military strength in orchestrating the nation’s foreign commerce
ii. Assured the northern mercantile and manufacturing interests that they would have the entire country as an open market and that their trade with other nations would be as open and favorable as possible
iii. These benefits were paid for by the large concessions to the southern states mentioned above

d. “The pwr to dispose of the territories and make rules and regulations for their govt. and admission to the Union”

a. Madison, in a letter to Jefferson in 1787, posits that property interests offended by the injustices of the state legislatures had more to do with the calling of the Convention than did the deficiencies of the Articles of Confederation
b. Thus money lenders, security holders, and businessmen of all stripes are granted commercial stability in two clauses:

i. States and state banks cannot produce and distribute paper money. Since the gold and silver coin of the US would be the only legal tender, this meant a return to a stable and reassuring specie basis
ii. States are forbidden to impair the obligation of contract so that business agreements could be made confidently

It can be difficult to study the constitution as an economic document. It does not discuss classes; it doesn’t “place any property qualifications on voters or officers… Its language is cold, formal and severe.” It is easier to understand the constitution as an economic document when one studies the other documents associated with the constitution and its authors like the records of the debates at the constitutional conventions, newspapers and letters, and especially The Federalist. 

 The Powers Conferred upon the Federal Government

 Few powers for ‘positive action’ are outlined in the constitution. 

 The primary one is the right for the government to levy taxes. There are restrictions placed on this as well, to prevent the government from unfairly treating those who live in rural areas. It also outlines the possibility of a national debt. 

 It also allows the federal government to ‘raise and support military forces.’ This is of economic interest because the authors of The Federalist considered economic disagreements to be the primary cause of war. They anticipate that our economic success will spark jealousy among other nations and encourage them to make war against us. 

 The constitution also grants congress “plenary control over foreign and interstate commerce... and authorizes it to institute protective and discriminatory laws in favor of American Interests.” 

 The constitution also gives congress the right to set up rules about which territories are granted admission into the Union.

 It establishes the dominance of Federal power over state power. Federal government can force states to uphold their contracts. The federal government is given the power to print money. 

• The Americans have transformed the people in the same way that Englishmen a century earlier had transformed the rulers: they broke the connectedness of interest among them and put them at war with one another, just as seventeenth-century Englishmen had done.
• In these days we are equal citizens of a Democratic Republic, in which jealousy and opposition must exist.
• The public good could be an entity distinct from its parts; it was rather “the general combined interest of all the state put together.
• Government was no longer designed merely to promote the collective happiness of the people, but also, as the Tories had urged in the early seventies, to protect citizens in their personal liberty and property.
• Unless individuals and minorities were protected against the power of majorities no government could be truly free.
• Freedom, said Jefferson, would be destroyed by “the establishment of the opinion that the state has a perpetual right to the services of all its members.”
• Under a democracy, a self-interested man must court the people, thus tending to make self-love coincide with the people’s interest.
• The American republics had been created rationally and purposefully-for the first time in history --without attempting to pervert, suppress, or ignore the evil propensities of all men.
• The American government had also found energy of true freedom and civil liberty without anarchy.
• They had for the first time demonstrated to the world how people could diagnose the ill of its society and work out a process of cure.
• Tyranny was now seen as the abuse of power by any branch of the government.
• The people were an agglomeration of hostile individuals coming together for their mutual benefit to construct a society.
 
 

-among the many advantages of a well constructed Union, the ability to break and control the violence of faction is very important 
-instability, injustice, and confusion are the mortal diseases that have caused other governments to perish 
-measures are too often decided by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority 
-effects of the unsteadiness and injustice with which a factious spirit has tainted our public administration 
-two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: by removing its causes or by controlling its effects 
-liberty is to faction as air is to fire....none existent 
-as long as man continues to be fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it different opinions will be formed 
-first object of government is the protect diversity of faculties of men 
-most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property 
-regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government 
-if a faction consists of less than a majority,relief is supplied by the republican principle which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote 
-pure democracy, by which a society consisting of a small number of citizens who assemble and administer the government in person can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction 
-a republic opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking 
-two great differences between a republic and democracy: the delegation of government, the greater number of citizens and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended 
-the influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States 
- the extent and proper structure of the Union, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government