Charles Beard Essay

Charles beards An Economic Interpretation of the U.S ConstitutionCharles Beards prevail, An Economic Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, was published in 1913 and soon became atomic number 53 of the most controversial literary works of its time. Beards main(prenominal) thesis in this book is essentially that the Founding Fathers chose the specific coiffure of the Constitution of the join States to protect their personal financial interests. Beard consequently goes on to argue that the Constitution was written by an elite attempting to sentry go their own assets and financial location. Beard was expanding on Carl L. Beckers thesis of club conflict. In the eyes of Beard, the Constitution was created by the Founding Fathers as a counter revolution that ran against the wishes of farmers and laborers.Beards theory and his publication of this book were so controversial because it seemed to demean the Constitution and everything it stood for, which displeasureed politicians a nd most of the legitimate community, at least those who didnt ignore it completely. However, gayy historians and recital professors seemed to fill out it and accept it. Many people were angered by Beards theory because, since it disparaged the Constitution and Founding Fathers, it seemed to put down almost everything our body politic stands for. Taking a sacred piece of history that started our nation and trampling on it by saying that it was nothing more than rich workforce trying to save their bank accounts and put down the common macrocosm is bound to upset more than just a few people. single of Beards main critics of the 20th century is a man named Forrest McDonald. McDonald uses his study of the voting habits and financial and economic concerns of the delegates at the Constitutional group in Philadelphia to prove that their motives were not financial-based. He asserts that the majority of the delegates who had public securities were Antifederalists. He concludes his st udy by saying, Anyone wishing to re import the history of those proceedings by and large or exclusively in terms of the economic interests represented there would find the facts to be insurmountable obstacles. What McDonald means by this is that Beard, who was attempting to rewrite the history of the proceedings of theConstitutional Convention, was doing so without any actual evidence and thus had an empty argument.I believe that Beards thesis, although an interesting notion, was not necessarily a valid argument and did nothing except anger most people in the political community. Even though numerous people in the late 20th century accepted his thesis, I disagree with it. My reasoning for this is that, although the Founding Fathers were economically prosperous, I believe that their status made them the only ones that could be able to write the Constitution and who were in a position to make the most crucial moves in establishing the United States. I do not believe that the Foundi ng Fathers created the Constitution exclusively protect their financial status, I believe their status was the reason they could write the Constitution.