Authors: Charles A. Beard
ISBN-13: 9780486433653, ISBN-10: 048643365X
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: May 2004
Edition: (Non-applicable)
One of the classic revisionist histories of the 20th century, Beard's 1913 history of the economic interests that lay behind the formation of the United States Constitution is here reproduced in unabridged format. Beard first surveys the economic structure of the newly independent country and then describes the ways in which property safeguards helped select the delegates to the constitutional convention. He then reviews the individual economic interests of the delegates and explains how these interests often lay behind the positions taken at the constitution. He also discusses the role of economics in the process of ratification and the popular vote on the Constitution. His conclusion that the Constitution represented a victory of personality (or personal property) interests over farming and debtor interests, were controversial at the time of publication and remain so today. This work is cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
In this 1913 volume, Beard, the founder of the New School for Social Research, contends that the Founding Fathers included a clear strategy for Colonial economics in the writing of the Constitution. A staple for history and economics collections. (Classic Returns, LJ 11/1/98)
Introduction to the Transaction Edition | ||
Introduction to the 1935 Edition | ||
Preface | ||
I | Historical Interpretation in the United States | 1 |
II | A Survey of Economic Interests in 1787 | 19 |
III | The Movement for the Constitution | 52 |
IV | Property Safeguards in the Election of Delegates | 64 |
V | The Economic Interests of the Members of the Convention | 73 |
VI | The Constitution as an Economic Document | 152 |
VII | The Political Doctrines of the Members of the Convention | 189 |
VIII | The Process of Ratification | 217 |
IX | The Popular Vote on the Constitution | 289 |
X | The Economics of the Vote on the Constitution | 253 |
XI | The Economic Conflict over Ratification as Viewed by Contemporaries | 292 |
Index | 327 |