Charles Beard and the Constitution
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As Charles Beard convincingly argues in Cigler and Loomis (1992), the Constitution of the United States is a document which institutionalizes the values and the power of an elite group which was the primary beneficiary of that document. Beard's argument, in fact, does not go far enough in highlighting the elite nature of the Framers of the Constitution. He argues that the elitist nature of that document is hidden in the document itself, but becomes clear in a thorough analysis of the communications which led to the Constitution itself. Indeed, the background documents do support the elitist theory with respect to the self-interest of the Framers, but the Constitution itself, with no such background material, blatantly reveals the elitist predilections of those Framers. The group which benefits from the Constitution is the group made up on individuals who are male, white, and propertied. Those who are not white, not male, and not propertied are left out in the cold. The disenfranchised, the poor, women and minorities may have had the freedom to stand on a soapbox and express their views, but those views were not likely to ever find their way into the workings of the government which was established by that Constitution, unless those views happened to coincide with the views of the rich white men who created that document. This elitist argument is supported by what is in the Constitution, such as in the system known as the Electoral College which ensures that those in power in
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ws from economic power, as Beard makes clear in his conclusion about the self-interested aims of the Framers of the Constitution: "The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon the concept that the fundamental private rights of property are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities" (Cigler & Loomis, 1992, 29).
All other normative considerations (equality, justice, order, freedom) are subservient in the Constitution to the value of property and the power which flows from that property. Justice, for example, is equated by the Framers with the rights and power of the elites---a "minority" to be sure. Thus, when Madison argues ""It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part" (Cigler & Loomis, 1992, 47), he is not only arguing for the protection of the weak, he is even more significantly arguing for the protection of the powerful---the protection of the property and privilege possessed by himself and his wealthy white male colleagues.
Every time Madison or another Framer argues with such eloquence for "justice," he is in fact arguing for continui
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Approximate Word count = 1646
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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