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An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 economic interests of the Founding Fathers. More specifically, the Constitution was written by a "cohesive" elite seeking to protect its property and economic standing. Beard pointed out, for example, that George Washington was the wealthiest landowner in the country, and had provided significant funding towards the American Revolutionary War. Beard traces the Constitutional guarantee that the newly formed nation would pay its debts to Washington's desire to have his costs refunded.
Forrest McDonald in We The People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (1958) argued that Beard had misinterpreted the economic interests involved in writing the Constitution. Instead of two interests, landed and mercantile, which conflicted, McDonald asserted that there were three dozen identifiable interests that forced the delegates to bargain.
