1. According to readings 6.1 & 6.2, drafters of the constitution were described as wealthy and powerful. Social classes not allowed to participate in the drafting of the constitution or any politics for that matter were women, slaves, indentured servants and men who lacked ownership of real property. This dichotomy of social classes included, during these times, wealthy land-owning white men and then the landless working-class debtors and slaves. Ultimately, the wealthy land owners sought to shut out any political say-so on the working class’ end. The wealthy only set out to use the working-class for their labor.

2. There are similarities is social class structure when comparing early U.S. to day. It’s the same in that money and land ownership are still powerful resources today. Individuals and groups with more resources including money are readily able to garner support from politicians. A few differences include people outside of the wealth communities being included in the voting process. As far as wealth opportunities and earning wages there is more consideration for the working class.

3. The wealthy did not desire a government partially controlled by the non-wealthy working people. They were afraid those people were not wise enough, due to their economic status to determine what they need from government. After all the constitution was created to help the wealthy to stay wealthy. Why would the poor working classes be given a seat at the table? I think the wealthy just desired full control of over the government and they feared letting in the working class people would greatly disrupt that by them voicing their own personal concerns that the wealthy did not care about in the first place. 

1.A select portion of the population that wasn’t able to elect the lower house were almost all white males without property, all Native Americans, slaves, all indentured servants, and all females of whatever race. Therefore, the constitution was made for the wealthy. For instance, the reading 6.1 states “Not only should the low-income majority be prevented from coalescing, its upward thrust upon government also should be blunted with indirect forms of representation.” This shows that the low-income population was not allowed to be a part of the wealthy’s society.

2.The social structure of the early United States society is different from the society today because the old social class structure included wealth and income, but it did not include education, attainment, jobs, and social networks. 

3.In essence, they would just have to determine whether to set down what the federal government could do and what it couldn’t do. Because they would control the affairs of the nation and check leveling impulses of the people who did not have property which composed the majority faction. This could tamper with the existing class structure.  Democracy would either be overly feeble to prohibit one group from exploiting another, or it might have an overpowering majority that violates minorities’ rights.

1- Based on the arguments presented in Readings 6.1 and 6.2, which social class wrote the Constitution, and which class was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process? In your comment, make sure you clearly specify the difference between the two classes by giving examples from the readings

Based on the reading 6.1 and 6.2 Constitution was written for the rich people. Middle class, the slaves, the indented servants, women were not allowed to participate in the process. The Working-class didn’t make any impression on the statement at that time. For instance, according to reading 6.2 “Hamilton in his report on manufacturers, dismisses the subject with scant notice”. He mentions that women and children are needed, and they can work in manufactories, etc.

2- Would say that the social class structure of early United States society, was the same as ours today, or different? Explain.

Nowadays, social classes are still in our society, because of some institutions, neighborhoods, whether it’s health, education, etc. However, different from before people have the chances to work hard to pass from the middle class to the rich class, even though you have to work very hard to achieve. Also, women aren’t like before that didn’t have any rights. Now females have equality with males and they have the same rights to work, to go to school, etc. The system of social class in America is similar to other countries in their problems now, although the main difference is that poverty in America can be invisible because is known as one of the richest countries in the world.

3-Why were the people who wrote the Constitution so afraid of democracy? Hint: think about how to answer this question by discussing it in terms of social classes.

People who wrote the Constitution were so afraid because most of the people consisted of the middle class. The middle class didn’t have the right to vote and the democracy would require everyone to vote on every issue.

LiLiu

Professor Arto Artinian

POL100 (0502): Discussion Board 6.1

June 9, 2021

1. Based on the arguments presented in Readings 6.1 and 6.2, which social class wrote the Constitution, and which class was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process? In your comment, make sure you clearly specify the difference between the two classes by giving examples from the readings.

According to Readings 6.1 and 6.2, the author explained that the affluent class are the framers, which means they wrote the Constitution. The working class are excluded and are not allowed to participate in this process. The wealthy class represents a small number of rich people with a large amount of property. Although their constitution is not only concerned with their own, their clear purpose is to protect the interests of a few rich people from the majority of the working class without property. Thus, ordinary working people as the working class are naturally excluded from the process of formulating the constitution. For example, the author writes, “Major questions relating to the new government’s ability to protect the interests of property were agreed upon with surprisingly little debate. On these issues, there were no poor farmers, artisans, indentured servants, or slaves attending the convention to proffer an opposing viewpoint. Ordinary working people could not take off four months to go to Philadelphia and write a constitution. The debate between haves and have-nots never took place”(Parenti, p 5). Therefore, the constitution was formulated by the representatives of the wealthy class, who excluded the working class groups in order to curb the possible threats the working class might pose to their interests. 

2. Would say that the social class structure of early United States society was the same as ours today, or different? Explain.

The social class structure of early United States society was the same as ours today because of the social class of the United States today. It is still composed of a wealthy class with a lot of wealth, a middle class with a little property, and a working class with no property at all. Therefore, there is no change in our social class structure today and the early American social class structure. 

3. Why were the people who wrote the Constitution so afraid of democracy? Hint: think about how to answer this question by discussing it in terms of social classes.

The people who wrote the Constitution are so afraid of democracy because the majority of people in this society are working class people. These people who wrote the constitution are a wealthy class with a lot of money. They hope that their wealth can be maintained and increased, which violates the interests of the working class. Because the capitalist’s means of maintaining and increasing wealth is to exploit the surplus value of the commodities created by the workers. According to “Democracy for the Few” by Michael Parenti, the capitalists maintain and increase their wealth by exploiting workers’ surplus value. For example, the author writes, “Under capitalism, however, the portion taken from the worker is not visible. Workers are simply paid substantially less than the value they create. Indeed, the only reason they are hired is so the owner can make money off their labor. If wages did represent the total value created by labor (after expenses and improvements), there would be no surplus value, no profits for the owner, no great fortunes for those who do not labor” (Parenti, p 2). Therefore, the wealthy class is afraid that the majority of working people of the working class will threaten their interests and overthrow their rule.