Charles Beard’s Article, Framing the Constitution

In Charles A. Beard’s “Framing the Constitution”, we see some really good arguments. The first argument we come across is him saying how there was two great parties at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. He goes into detail by saying that one party lays an emphasis on

Charles Beard lived in a time when a vast majority of politicians and economists considered the views of the founding fathers to be infallible. In fact, many people nowadays still believe that to be the case. Beard, however, held a different opinion in regards to their writing of the Constitution. Whereas most people believe that it was written entirely due to the pressing issues concerning the economic state and unity of the country, Beard believed that it was at least in part due to those same politician’s selfish economic interests since all of them were wealthy men. He argued in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitutionthat the way the Constitution’s system of power and representation “were devices for keeping power in the hands of the rich” [1]. He makes an interesting case in his highly controversial book, but one

In his essay “Framing the Constitution,” Charles Beard believed that the Constitution was written for economic reasons. He claimed it was a document written by the rich and powerful whose only aim was for their wealth and property to be protected. Beard states “The men who were principally concerned in this work of peaceful enterprise were not the philosophers, but the men of business and property and the holders of public securities.” He supposed that there group of men who created the document were rich and greedy, and

After the Revolutionary war, the thirteen American Colonies needed a government to replace the British System. The founding Fathers’ first attempt for governance was founded around the Articles of Confederation. In the Article of Confederation it called for a confederacy, which placed sovereign power in the hands of the states. The American government began to be based on powerful state government, and the article of confederation became ineffective at governing American states. The main cause of the ineffective was the lack of a strong central government. This led to economic disorganization, lack of central leadership, and legislative inefficiency. The Articles of Confederation were America 's first failure at government (Brackemyre, 2015).

“We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” ("Avalon Project - Constitution of the United States : Preamble," n.d.) The constitution divided government authority by giving the national government certain specific powers, and reserving all other powers to the states or the people. The constitution has preserved the basic design of federalism. The constitution grants three types of power to national government. Examples are expressed, implied, and inherent powers;

P.8 Since 1789, members of Congress have proposed over 10,000 amendments. Only 33 have passed through Congress, and of those only 27 have been ratified by the states. Madison was right about the difficulty of the amendment process; what he could not have foreseen was the Court’s use of an amendment to expand the rights originally demanded to be

Historians of the mid nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries completely switched gears as they believed that an intent of self-gain and favorability of the wealthy elite spurred the decisions within the Constitution, rather than nationalism and protecting civil rights. Charles Austin Beard, author of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913), was firm in his conviction that the framers set up the Constitution the way they did because of capitalism. Capitalism is almost the opposite of nationalism, the reason being that while nationalism consists of doing good for the whole country, capitalism is protecting one’s individual rights. This is very commonly associated with the protection of personal property. (CAPITALISM)

American economist Charles Beard, wrote an economic interpretation of the Constitution, that shed light on the elite bias it was founded on and supported his statements with credible information. In Beard’s economic interpretation of the Constitution he writes that the Constitution was written for the founding fathers personnel benefits. Through his research on the founding fathers he discovered that the all of delegates had upper class occupations including lawyers, merchants, manufacturers, slave owners, and etcetera. Beard states founding fathers specifically had protection of their personal assets in mind when crafting the document such as; plantation owners wanted to guard slavery, money lenders were against paper money, and the list

The Framers of the Constitution of the United States carefully considered every word written while composing a new document guiding the formation of the new land. While trying account for the long standing traditions of law from former homelands, they needed to take into account the practices they were familiar with paying respect to tradition of law excepting those they saw as oppressive by rule of Kings and Queens. Clearly expecting to effect change on our new soil while weighing and balancing power and authority. For the sake of debate, the framers could not have known the arguments so many years later but they did their very best to take into account the impact of the laws, restrictions, and parameters of the document. The Second

Not long after the inception of the Articles of Confederation, it became clear that the several states functioning as independent units would not be able to provide a sufficient defense for the whole country. Following a constitutional convention, the present day Constitution was devised with a federal structure with three co-equal branches endowed with certain enumerated functions. During the period from the Revolution to the Civil war, America's branches of government had always been in constant conflict. However, the period of reconstruction brought this strife to the forefront.

The Founding Fathers of the United States established the Rule of Law. This idea of the Rule of Law made it so citizens were seen as equals. There was no one person who was above the law. Each person is accountable for their actions and each person is equal to the next, even political leaders. The Constitution of the United States helped shape the political regime of the country. It established the separation of powers so that no one office holds too much power. Not only did the Constitution establish the separation of powers, but it also helped establish Federalism. Because of Federalism it separated authority between nation and state. This gave each state their power to create their own laws, policies, and judicial system. The Constitution hits three major roles, national, state, and individual rights. The Bill of Rights lays out rights of the individuals that they were entitled to being a part of the US. Some of these individual rights are freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly. The Constitution of the United States is the longest standing Constitution still in practice. Two centuries after the constitution was drafted, it still remains in effect and is a crucial part of the United States government. The United States is comprised of different branches of government. At the national level there are three institutions; Legislature, Judiciary, and the President. Each institution plays different roles in the

According to Charles Beard, he believes that The Constitution wasn’t created by the “Whole People” or by “The States.” Charles Beard believes that The Constitution was created by a group of wealthy consolidated people who “knew no state boundaries.”

The creation of the United States Constitution can be traced back to those individuals and historic events that spurred a necessary change in the specific role government should play in society. Historical study tends to myopically direct the credit of the United States Constitution to the Founding Fathers when in reality; there were

fifty-five men have recently gathered to create an all-encompassing document to define the laws and principles surrounding our newfound country. They wish for each state to ratify this document that is being called the Constitution. People have been calling the supporters of this new constitution Federalists; however, the intentions of the Constitution are still uncertain for many. There has been intense debate about the intentions of these men writing this new start for our country. Most of these fifty-five men, who have been placed in charge of determining our interests as a country, are all from a very similar background; most of them are wealthy, half are moneylender, many are lawyers. With this group of men, many believe this document

The Constitution This is what you need to know about the Constitution. The Constitution established America’s National Government and fundamental laws. It guaranteed certain basic rights for the citizens. The president was George Washington during the time it was signed. It was signed on September 17, 1787 by delegates to the