Readings 6.1 and 6.2 explain that the Constitution was mainly written by wealthy men who owned property, land, or businesses and had political power. These men were often large landowners, merchants, bankers, creditors, slaveholders, or had other business interests. Beard notes that enslaved people, indentured servants, women, and men without enough property were not included at the Convention. Parenti also points out that in most states, only white men who owned property could vote, while Native Americans, African Americans, women, indentured servants, and white men without property were excluded.The main difference between the two groups was that one had money and power, while the other did most of the work but had little political influence. Merchants, bankers, and landowners could shape the government, but poor farmers, workers, people who owed money, enslaved people, and women had almost no way to take part. Theclass system in the past was different from today, but there are still some similarities. Today, more people can vote, and the law no longer limits participation to white men who own property. Still, money gives people more power, better chances, and more influence in politics. People with wealth can get better education, better lawyers, better housing, and more access to leaders.The people who wrote the Constitution were worried about democracy because they thought the poor majority might use political power against the rich. They were concerned that ordinary people would support things like debt relief, paper money, or laws to help small farmers and people who owed money. I think they were not just afraid of ‘the people,’ but also of losing control over property, money, and power. Because of this, the Constitution created a government that looked democratic but still protected the interests of the wealthy few.

• The people who wrote the Constitution were mostly wealthy people who owned land, businesses, money, and property. This included merchants, bankers, creditors, large landowners, and slaveholders.
• The people who were excluded were poor farmers, workers, slaves, indentured servants, women, and many men who did not own property. They had very little political power and were not included in writing the Constitution.
• The main difference between the two classes is that one group owned property and had power, while the other group had little wealth and little say in government.
• I think the class structure was different from today because more people can vote now regardless of race, gender, or property ownership.
• At the same time, there are still some similarities because people with money often have more opportunities and influence than people who are struggling financially.
• The people who wrote the Constitution were afraid of democracy because they worried that poor farmers and workers would gain too much power.
• They believed that if the lower class had more control, they might support laws that would hurt the interests of wealthy property owners.
• From the readings, it seems like the Constitution was written to protect the interests of people who owned property and wealth while limiting how much power the lower class could have.

A.

Wealthy landowners, merchants, creditors, slave owners and speculators, prepared the Constitution. By 1760, fewer than 500 men, in five cities, dominated most of the commerce on the eastern seaboard, and these were the sort of men who came to Philadelphia. Beard confirms this, presenting evidence that the delegates had personal interests in land speculation, government securities and manufacturing.

The poor farmers, artisans, indentured servants, slaves and women were completely left out. They were excluded from voting, were banned from holding office and could not afford to spend four months in Philadelphia.

It’s both similar and different. The basic division between a wealthy ownership class and a working majority still exists today — the bourgeoisie/proletariat distinction that Beard and Parenti describe maps onto modern billionaires vs. wage workers. But formal legal exclusions have been eliminated. Campaign finance, lobbying, and the absence of third-party options are the more common methods of disenfranchisement today, rather than legal barriers. The class structure remains and the rules and processes of exclusion have simply grown more covert.

3.

The framers feared the wealthy, as they feared the political power of the majority class (the proletariat). Since the working class had direct material interests opposed to the wealthy (cancel debts, redistribute land, abolish servitude), real majority rule threatened the entire economic order on which the framers had built their wealth. Madison’s Federalist #10 makes this explicit: the goal was to prevent the propertyless majority from acting in unison against the propertied class. To wrap up, democracy was a threat to their class interests.

1. The readings show that the Constitution was written by wealthy elites. They were large property owners, creditors, merchants, and slaveholding planters. While the poor, working classes and marginalized groups were completely excluded from the process. Parenti makes this clear when he explains that “only property owning White males could vote… probably not more than 10 percent of the total adult population” (Parenti 5). While “Native Americans, persons of African descent, women, indentured servants, and White males lacking sufficient property” were barred from participation (Parenti 5). Beard supports this by noting that slaves, indentured servants, non‑property‑holding men, and women “were… not represented in the Convention which drafted the Constitution” (Beard 1). In contrast, those who did write the Constitution were wealthy men with significant economic interests “persons of birth and fortune” who sought to protect property and maintain class hierarchy (Parenti 7). Beard further identifies these Constitution‑makers as real‑property holders, slaveholding planters, and men with substantial commercial or financial investments (Beard 2–5). The Constitution was crafted by the richest Americans to protect their wealth. While the majority poor farmers, laborers, women, and enslaved people had no voice at all.
2. The social class structure of early U.S. society laid the foundation for the class system we see today, even though the specific forms of wealth and power have changed. In the eighteenth century, political power was concentrated in the hands of wealthy property owners. As Parenti notes when he describes how the framers sought to protect “the unequal distribution of property” and ensure that those “with a talent for getting rich” were not restricted by the poor (Parenti 7). Beard similarly shows that economic interests’ creditors, merchants, planters, and industrial capitalists shaped the Constitution to protect their wealth (Beard 4–5). While today’s society no longer restricts voting to property‑owning white men. The economic power still heavily influences political power, and wealthier classes continue to shape policy in ways that benefit themselves. The structure has evolved, but the underlying pattern where those with money have disproportionate influence remains rooted in the same dynamics established at the nation’s founding.
3. The framers feared democracy because they feared the political power of the poor majority, whose interests conflicted with those of wealthy elites. Parenti explains that the delegates wanted to prevent the “leveling impulses of the propertyless multitude,” whom they viewed as a dangerous “majority faction” that might challenge elite wealth and privilege (Parenti 7). James Madison openly argued that the unequal distribution of property created permanent class conflict, and that government must protect the wealthy from the poor by limiting democratic influence (Parenti 7). Beard reinforces this by showing that creditors, merchants, and wealthy landowners supported a stronger national government (Beard 4). They wanted protection from debtor‑friendly laws and popular uprisings like Shays’s Rebellion. In short, the framers feared democracy because true majority rule would empower the lower classes. Those without property to demand economic fairness. Threatening the wealth and authority of the elite minority who wrote the Constitution.

Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. 1913.
Parenti, Michael. Democracy for the Few. Cengage, 2011.

1. The Constitution was written by and for the white wealthy class, which included merchants, big landowners, creditors, slaveholders and bankers. According to Michael Parenti, by 1760 fewer than five hundred white men in five colonial cities controlled most of the commerce, shipping, banking and manufacturing on the eastern seaboard. These men were not just wealthy, they were personally invested in the outcome because many of them held government securities and land that would directly increase in value under the new government. Charles Beard backs this up by pointing out that the delegates had a direct financial stake in how the Constitution turned out, meaning the whole document was shaped by people who stood to personally benefit from it. The people excluded were slaves, women, indentured servants, Native Americans and white men who did not own enough property. Parenti notes this was the overwhelming majority of the population, not a small group. The fundamental difference between the two classes came down to property and wealth. One class owned it and used that ownership to write the rules in their favor, and the other class had none and because of that had no legal standing to participate at all.

2. I strongly believe the social class structure of early United States society is the same as ours today. Then and now you have two classes, the owning class and the working class. In 1787 the owning class were the merchants, landowners, bankers and creditors who controlled the wealth and wrote the rules in their favor. Today that same dynamic exists except instead of landowners and slaveholders you have corporations, billionaires and major investors who still control the wealth and still shape policy to protect their interests. The working class then were the farmers, debtors, indentured servants and laborers who had no property and no political power. Today working class people still sell their labor to survive and still have little to no net assets. The legal barriers like property requirements to vote are gone but the economic ones are still very much in place. Wealth still determines who has real political power and who the government actually works for. The names and faces changed but the class structure itself never did.

2. They were afraid of democracy because democracy meant the majority got to decide things and the majority were poor farmers, debtors and working people who wanted debt relief, fairer taxes and land redistribution. That was a direct threat to everything the framers owned. Shays Rebellion scared them so badly because it showed what organized poor people were capable of. Madison basically admitted this in Federalist No. 10 when he said the whole point was to prevent the propertyless majority from acting together against the propertied class. So the checks and balances, the electoral college, the Senate, all of it was not designed to protect democracy, it was designed to slow it down and keep wealth safe from the people who did not have any.

3. The people who wrote the Constitution were afraid of democracy because they were the owning class and democracy would give power to the working class. The owning class had everything to lose if the majority actually got to make the decisions. The majority were poor farmers, debtors and laborers who had no property and no wealth, and what they wanted was debt relief, fairer taxes and a redistribution of land. That directly threatened the wealth and position of the owning class. Michael Parenti makes this clear when he points to Shays Rebellion as the event that confirmed every fear the framers had. When the working class organized and took up arms it showed the owning class exactly what democracy from below actually looked like in practice. Charles Beard adds that the delegates were not neutral statesmen, they were members of the owning class who had a direct financial stake in keeping that class protected. When James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10 that the majority must not be allowed to act together against the propertied class, he was speaking directly as a member of the owning class trying to protect it from the working class below. Democracy meant the working class could outvote the owning class and take back what was taken from them, and the Constitution was specifically designed to make sure that never happened.

1. According to Michael Parenti in “Class Power in Early America,” the Constitution was written by members of the wealthy elite, including landowners, merchants, and creditors who wanted a strong central government to protect their property and economic interests. Charles Beard’s economic interpretation supports this view, arguing that the framers were primarily concerned with safeguarding their own economic advantages. The excluded class consisted of poor farmers, indentured servants, artisans, and enslaved people, who were denied participation in the constitutional process. The wealthy elite feared that the working class would enact policies beneficial to themselves but detrimental to the rich, so they deliberately excluded them from the process.
2. The social class structure of early United States society is somewhat similar yet different from today’s. In the early republic, class divisions were more rigid and legally enforced, only property-owning white men could vote or hold office, and slavery was widely practiced. Today, while economic inequality still influence political power, legal barriers based on class have been removed, and there is greater opportunity for social mobility through education and employment.
3. The people who wrote the Constitution were afraid of democracy because they believed it would empower the majority, the common people, to enact policies that would threaten the property and interests of the wealthy minority. As Parenti and Beard both emphasize, the framers sought to create system that would protect their own economic advantages and prevent the majority from redistributing wealth or challenging the existing class structure. This fear of “mob rule” led them to design a government with checks and balances that limited direct popular influence, ensuring that the wealthy elite would retain control.

1. The social class that wrote the Constitution was a wealthy and powerful minority, these were people who owned both movable and immovable property. These individuals were investors, lenders, and merchants. They all sought to create a central government that would favor them, one in which they would have the power to collect taxes, protect foreign trade, compel people to pay their debts, and block local laws that favored debtors.
   For example, the wealthy men who took advantage of the crisis to buy soldiers’ devalued bonds at ridiculously low prices were able, through Article VI, to collect on those bonds at their full value, at the expense of public taxes.
   The social class that was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process consisted of women, people of African descent, Native Americans, as well as farmers and day laborers who had gone into debt at high interest rates to cultivate their land or pay rent. However, in the case of this class, exclusion was also due to economic factors. To be eligible to vote or run for office, one had to own sufficient land or property, which also excluded poor whites. Due to debt and high taxes, this class demanded relief laws, such as those delaying the foreclosure of their farms or the printing of devalued paper money to help them pay their debts. But for those who wrote the Constitution, this was not beneficial, as it interfered with their goals of enriching themselves; that is why the excluded class had no voice or vote.
   
2. I would say that the class structure of American society in its early history is both similar to and different from today’s. Unlike in the past, today it doesn’t matter if you’re a woman, or if you don’t own property, or what social class you belong to, everyone has the right to vote. However, the current structure remains similar to that of the past; the wealthy and powerful minority remains the same, it has not grown. And they continue to enjoy the state’s favor in protecting their own interests, since, possessing immense wealth that not even the combined wealth of all other social classes can match, they can shape the laws in their favor, which is equivalent to the control exercised by those who wrote the Constitution in the past.
   
3. To understand why the people who wrote the Constitution feared democracy so much, we must keep two key points in mind. The first key point is that the people who wrote the Constitution were just a minority of the rich and powerful, while the rest of the excluded population made up a majority consisting of women, people of African descent, workers, and the poor. The second key point is that democracy meant direct rule by the majority. That is why they were so afraid of democracy, because it would mean that the majority would change the economic rules in their favor. In other words, their fear stemmed from the fact that the majority, having a voice and a vote, would pass laws for their own benefit that would harm the wealthy and powerful minority.

1. Based on Parenti and Beard, the Constitution was written entirely by the wealthy capitalist class, while the working class and poor were completely excluded. Beard explains that the writers were rich property holders, merchants, and shippers who wanted a strong government to protect their money and business interests. Meanwhile, small farmers, laborers, debtors, and enslaved people were totally left out. Parenti points out that they were legally disenfranchised, since early America required you to own land and be a white male just to have a voice.
2. I think the class structure back then was basically the same as it is today, just with different labels. In early America, a small group of rich elites controlled all the wealth while everyone else had to work to survive. Today, we still have a capitalist class (like the 1%) who own the biggest corporations and banks, while the rest of us are in the working class relying on a paycheck. Even though voting rights have expanded to everyone today, the actual gap in economic power between the rich and the working class hasn’t really changed.
3. The founders were terrified of democracy because of how it would affect social classes. Since regular working class people made up the majority of the population, a true democracy would mean the poor had the power to outvote the rich. The elites were scared that if the masses got control of the government, they would vote to cancel their debts, tax the wealthy, or take away their land. To protect their own rich minority class, they created things like the Electoral College and an unelected Supreme Court to keep direct power away from everyday people.

Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Chapter 2, edited excerpt.

Parenti, Michael. Democracy for the Few. Cengage Learning, 2011. Chapter 2, pp. 5–11.

Ameerah Jameer