- Based off the readings it came to the understandment that the constitution was written by upper-class “elites”. Elites as in people of high wealth and power like landowners, slave owners, merchants, bankers, and a whole bunch of other stuff. During the reading it mentioned power was not well distributed amongst top people meaning such a small percentage of people owned everything. It mentioned how this can be proven through contracts and debts being protected. Since these people wrote and really owned the constitution, its safe to say people under them got the end of the stick. Slaves, workers, women even.
- I would say it is the same when it comes to social classes. Every day we still see wealthy people profit off the backs of those doing the labor who can barely scrape by. Political power is influenced by your wealth, like the banks and what not. Someone with such high status can influence a government in today’s world. What can be said that is different is the inequality gap from then to now. With worker unions and minimum wages being established certain jobs acknowledge what’s being done to match the works pay.
- They were scared of democracy because of the potential it could lead to. After poor people were angry at the fact they get no benefit of what’s being done without their opinion be happening Infront of them, the wealthy feared they’d be out voted from the pure mass of people. Putting limitations on power civilians held created that gap that allowed rich people to maintain power and their money since they didn’t trust anyone.
Discussion Board 6.1
After reading 6.1 and 6.2, I started to see the Constitution in a different way. I always thought of it mostly as a document about freedom and democracy. But these readings show that many of the people who wrote it were wealthy property owners. They were landowners, merchants, bankers, and even slaveholders. According to Charles Beard and Michael Parenti, a lot of the framers owned bonds, land, and businesses. So it makes sense that they wanted a strong national government that would protect property and investments. If you own a lot, you want a system that keeps it safe. At the same time, many people were completely left out of this process. Poor farmers, workers, people in debt, women, enslaved people, and Native Americans did not really have a voice. Most of them could not vote or participate in government. Beard argues that the Constitution mainly reflected the interests of creditors and wealthy elites, not ordinary working people. For example, if a poor farmer owed money, the government was more likely to protect the lender than the farmer. That shows whose interests were more important at the time. When I compare early American society to today, I see both differences and similarities. Today, people can vote regardless of property, race, or gender, which is a huge change. That is real progress. However, money still has a strong influence in politics. Wealthy individuals and corporations donate large amounts to campaigns and use lobbying to influence laws. Regular people can vote, but they usually do not have the same access to politicians. So even though the system is more democratic now, economic inequality still affects political power. The framers were also afraid of pure democracy. In Federalist No. 10, Madison talks about factions and how they often come from differences in property. He worried that a majority of poorer citizens might vote to take property from the rich. Because of this fear, the Constitution created a republic with representatives and systems like checks and balances, the Senate, and the Electoral College. These were designed to slow down majority rule and protect property rights. Overall, the Constitution promoted democratic ideas, but it also clearly protected the interests of the wealthy class. Even today, we can see that social class still matters in politics, which makes these readings feel surprisingly relevant.
Discussion Board 6.1
- 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.
- Would say that the social class structure of early United States society, was the same as ours today, or different? Explain.
- 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.
