Economics in the American Revolution
Was the American Revolution motivated primarily by economic factors? To the observer in 2014, who is surrounded with economically-oriented ideologues who have adopted the title of "Tea Party" for their movement, the interpretation is inescapable. We must ignore the tendentious and flimsy view of history advanced by the twenty-first century Tea Parties though (reminding ourselves that the former vice presidential candidate who styles herself one of their leaders could not correctly identify in 2011 what Paul Revere had actually done during the American Revolution) and look at the view of reputable historians. I hope by examining the work of three historians -- Charles Beard, Richard Hofstadter, and Gordon Wood -- to demonstrate the extent to which the Founding Fathers were motivated by economic circumstances.
Any discussion of the economic factors motivating the American Revolution must begin with the work of Charles Beard. Beard, influenced to some degree by Marxist analysis, received a historiography which had whitewashed the vested interests of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution. Beard argued that the document was "not the product of an abstraction known as 'the whole people' but a group of economic interests which must have expected beneficial results from its adoption" (Beard 16). Beard notes, for example, that the opposition to the document came largely from "farmers and debtors"...
Constitution The United States Constitution is based on the self-interest view of human nature. It was created to provide people with a large number of freedoms. When the Founding Fathers sat down to write it, they carefully considered all the issues that they and their fellow countrymen had faced when they were still in England, before they came to America to have the freedoms they wanted (Billias, 2009). Because they knew
Filburn harvested nearly 12 acres of wheat above his allotment. He claimed that he wanted the wheat for use on his farm, including feed for his poultry and livestock. Fiburn was penalized. He argued that the excess wheat was unrelated to commerce since he grew it for his own use. The question in the matter was: Is the amendment subjecting Filburn to acreage restrictions in violation of the Constitution
United States Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Great Compromise The Articles of Confederation was the first document attempting to govern how the newly independent states were to act together in their union. However, the Articles of Confederation had significant flaws that rendered them an unrealistic tool for the government of the new states. While not all inclusive, the following are some of the weaknesses
. But it is a shame that the ERA -- an amendment that is fair, appropriate, and necessary -- is attacked by right wing organizations using phony, absurd arguments to shoot down this amendment. Nevertheless, the procedure that Congress and the states must go through to amend the Constitution has stood the test of time. And in any event, the U.S. Supreme Court has had the authority -- and has
1. What specific regulations/rules does the U.S. Constitution make about enslavement in America (article I: sect. 2 #1; article I, sect. 9, #1; article IV, sect. 2, #3)? Article I, Section 2 includes the “three-fifths” clause, which helped slave states gain more Congressional representatives by allowing slaves to count as “three fifths” of a person. Article I, Section 9, Number 1 places a new tax on the importation of new slaves,
Bill of Rights The United States Constitution was originally adopted at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, after the perceived failure of the colonies' first attempt at a foundational document for federal government, the Articles of Confederation. This is important to recall because in many ways the Constitution was written with an awareness of how such documents may fail in practice, and so its drafters included in Article 5 a set of
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