41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Place to Begin Thinking About What it Means to be an American, February 22, 2006
This review is from: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of The United States (Paperback)
Jumping to the end of Charles Beard's book, his conclusions state the following:
i) The US constitution was enacted to protect the interests of: a) the moneyed classes (the rich), b) the bond and stock holding classes (the rich speculators), c) the manufacturing interests (rich capitalists), and trade and shipping interests (the rich capitalist speculators).
ii) The constitution was the result of an elite group of men representing the aforementioned interests.
iii) The constitutional convention held in Philadelphia was organized undemocratically by the aforementioned elite group of men to secure the aforementioned interests.
iv) Those not holding the aforementioned interests (the poor) were excluded from participation in the constitutional process.
v) Those participating in the Philadelphia convention personally benefited from the outcome of that convention (the constitution).
vi) The US constitution is a document protecting private property rights over that of a democratic people and/or its government.
vii) These assertions are on record as evidenced by the property and monetary interests of those who proposed and passed the US constitution.
viii) In the ratification of the US constitution, 3/4 of the qualified voters were excluded by some means or another, aiding the 1/4 who benefited from the passage of the constitution.
ix) The ratification of the US constitution was further narrowed down to where only 1/6 of the qualified voters participated in its passing.
x) Therefore, the majority of qualified voters did not participate in the ratification of the US constitution.
xi) This 1/6 who ratified the constitution were the same minority who held large holdings in money, bonds and stocks, manufacturing, and trade and shipping.
xii) The main societal divisions in the ratification of the US constitution were among classes cited in i) and the farming and debtor classes at that time.
xiii) The constitution was therefore not created by "the people," but by the those motivated by the monetary interests cited in i).
To see why Beard thought this you must read this book, which is a laundry list of those participating in the Philadelphia convention and the ratification process, and a catalogue of their documented monetary interests.
After reading Beard, then you can read the introduction by Forrest McDonald holding Beard's thesis up to the crucible of historical criticism.
After reading Beard and McDonald you can begin to reflect on the implications of Beard's materialist hypothesis and the host of corroborating and refuting philosophical considerations, then form your own conclusions, then repeat the cycle over and over.
This is probably a good departure point to begin examining your personal beliefs and expectations of what it means to be an American.
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54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clear and concise, a must for all economic history scholars., October 15, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of The United States (Paperback)
Beard's origional thesis form 1913 remains that the forming of the United States Constitution was an effort by the economic well-to-do of the newly formed American social class to establish a government that would protect their interests and raise the value of the government's obligations in their possessions. Beard's goal is simply to re-establish the idea of the aforementioned economic interests as the primary, not secondary cause of the U. S. Constitution. Through a topical analysis of interests, that seem contrary to the work of his historical mentors, Beard weaves his interpretation of the economic history. Throughout his book Beard consistantly refers to his work as fragmentary, but it appears extensively researched through primary documents such as the Federalist Papers, early Treasury Department records, and Madison's convension notes. Beard does an excellent job in presenting all necessary facts for the reader to follow his argument. Little, if any information is left to the supposition of the reader. Whereas the work can be dry at times, it does provide scholars with alternative, not necessarily new, interpretations of early American historical events.
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45 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real story, told by a brave man, an essential book for all,, August 20, 2005
Beard was a courageous man, not afraid to say the truth, not afraid to look into reality of American life and see the abuse of power, the denial of justice, and the real social interests at stake. This book establishes the real context of the constitution, displacing the usual hero worship of the "founders" as demigods and showing them as real men who served their class interests. Beard situates the constitutional convention in the great social struggles that went on in the period after the achievement of independence. Without such an understanding the struggle over the adoption of the constitution, and the role of the Bill of Rights are simply not understandable.
Post independence America was a place of economic crisis for the farmers, workers, and small tradesmen who had been the bulwark of the revolutionary struggle. Montarization of economic exchange in villages and towns where a large amount of the exchange had been based on barter, a massive inflation, and a growth of the power of the banks and other money lenders spread like a plague, particularly in the Northern States, especially New England. Farmers were losing their land; tradesmen were losing their shops; goods not made on the farms and villages became too expensive for many working people and farmers.
The power of the state governments, squarely in the hands of the merchants and planters, stood behind the seizure of the lands of farmers who could no longer pay the banks and merchants. Farmers and small tradesmen rose against this. Desperate farmers and their supporters shut down courts that met to authorize confiscation of farms. With no Bill of Rights, in Massachusetts set up kangaroo courts made up of merchants and bankers that made no attempt to be fair to the farmers. Newspapers and speakers who criticized the state government and the banks and big merchants were charged with treason.
Full-scale civil war broke out in Massachusetts, with the plebian rebels coming close--it is said only prevented by the delay of one detachment by a snowstorm--to seizing the national arsenal in Springfield. It was these threats to property that threatened the power of the wealthy and the order that had been established after the revolution. This is why the constitutional convention gathered, not some abstract interest in more ethereal and philosophical forms of government.
Whatever is said about divine motivations, the constitutional convention which gathered the wealthy and powerful, would have had to have been a bunch of insane dreamers, not to have had the interests of their wealth and power first in their minds in this situation. This Beard shows with abundant documentation.
Beard documents that this was by and large a gathering of the wealthy men of the country who had profited from the revolution and who had profited by the economic disaster farmers and tradesmen faced by buying up certificates for land in compensation for services to the revolution, many farmers and tradesmen had to sell in order to keep their own land. Beard indicates that the concern for a secure state that could safeguard these interests was the dominant question for constitutional convention. He also notes that the few delegates who were sympathetic to the popular struggle opposed the constitution. Others among the leaders of the American Revolution who opposed this trend stayed away.
Beard's book has been pilloried because it challenges the public myth about the constitution and the government that is needed to maintain the continued rule of the wealthy and powerful
The constitutional convention did not write a democratic constitution. There is no provision for national elections. There are only provisions for the state legislatures to select electors that would meet to select the president in what the constitutional convention thought would be another gathering of the wealthy and powerful.
The Bill of Rights was not part of the constitution they wrote or proposed. This was not an oversight, but because the authors of the constitution did not support these rights or democracy as it is understood today. As I mentioned above, in Massachusetts rather than a "jury of their peers," farmer rebels were tried by juries packed with merchants and bankers; rebels in Western farming communities like Springfield and Pittsfield were tried by juries from Boston. In states like Connecticut and Massachusetts, the Congregationalist church was an established church and membership in it was required to vote. Writers and speakers could be charged with treason for attacking the state governments.
Most people in the United States opposed the constitution that came out of the Philadelphia convention. Many cited as "founders" opposed it. The bill of rights was proposed as a compromise addition to safeguard the rights of the popular majority. Without it, the constitution would not have passed.
Even so, many provisions of the Bill of Rights were not actively enforced, some until the 20th Century. The establishment of religion continued in Connecticut and Massachusetts as states until 1820s and 1830s, and establishment of the Congregational churches by town government continued in many areas of New England until the late 19th and in a few places the early 20th century!!! Massachusetts's courts still charged and convicted newspapers for blasphemy in the 1840s.
Popular voting without property, religious, or other qualifications was not me insured in this constitution. This came only with the amendments others that followed the Civil War, which Beard famously termed The Second American Revolution.
Beard tells the real story here. For that, he was pilloried. Similarly, during and after WWII he documented, using congressional hearing testimony for the most part, how Roosevelt took the US into the Second World War. Again he was pilloried with new attacks generated against this book, even though this was written decades before.
We are lucky for a man like Beard who wasn't afraid to tell the truth, even when the truth clashed with myths that are propagated in the interests of the billionaires who run this society.
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