From Library Journal
In this 1913 volume, Beard, the founder of the New School for Social Research, contends that the Founding Fathers included a clear strategy for Colonial economics in the writing of the Constitution. A staple for history and economics collections. (Classic Returns, LJ 11/1/98)Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this famous study, the author turned the hagiography of many earlier American historians on its head. Unlike those writers, who had stressed idealistic impulses as factors determining the structure of the American government, Beard questioned the Founding Fathers' motivations in drafting the Constitution and viewed the results as a product of economic self-interest.

Brimming with human interest, insights, and information every student of American history will prize, this volume -- one of the most controversial books of its time -- continues to prompt new perceptions of the supreme law of the land.

SYNOPSIS

One of the classic revisionist histories of the 20th century, Beard's 1913 history of the economic interests that lay behind the formation of the United States Constitution is here reproduced in unabridged format. Beard first surveys the economic structure of the newly independent country and then describes the ways in which property safeguards helped select the delegates to the constitutional convention. He then reviews the individual economic interests of the delegates and explains how these interests often lay behind the positions taken at the constitution. He also discusses the role of economics in the process of ratification and the popular vote on the Constitution. His conclusion that the Constitution represented a victory of personality (or personal property) interests over farming and debtor interests, were controversial at the time of publication and remain so today. This work is cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

In this 1913 volume, Beard, the founder of the New School for Social Research, contends that the Founding Fathers included a clear strategy for Colonial economics in the writing of the Constitution. A staple for history and economics collections. (Classic Returns, LJ 11/1/98)

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