1.
The Constitution was written by wealthy white men—landowners, merchants, and slaveholders—who wanted to protect their own power. As Beard points out in Reading 6.1, many of them had a personal stake in shaping a government that favored property owners. Poor farmers, enslaved people, women, and Indigenous people were completely left out. Shays’ Rebellion, from Reading 6.2, shows how frustrated poor farmers were—but instead of listening to them, the elites saw it as a reason to clamp down.

2.
I’d say yes, in a lot of ways. While more people have rights today, wealth still decides who really has influence in politics. Just like then, people with money shape the laws and decisions, while working-class voices often go unheard.

3.
They were afraid the lower classes would vote for things that threatened elite interests—like canceling debts or redistributing land. They didn’t trust “the masses,” so they built systems (like the Senate and Electoral College) to keep most power in elite hands. It wasn’t democracy they feared—it was losing control.