Framing
the Constitution
Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard
qCharles A. Beard, who published his famous An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution in 1913, suggested that the Constitution was nothing
more than the work of an economic elite that was seeking to preserve its
property.
q This elite, according to Beard, consisted of
landholders, creditors, merchants, public bondholders, and wealthy lawyers.
Beard demonstrated that many of the delegates to the convention fell into one
of these categories.