The Sort-Of-Economic Constitution

The Constitution was written to provide the thirteen colonies with universal rules, laws, and regulations on all concerning issues. Many subjects were discussed; distributions of power locally and nationally, enforcement of the terms of the distribution, taxation, and commerce. Throughout the writing of the Constitution, issues that concerned the economy, such as taxation and economic powers, were uncovered, but in the end, a central theme became clear. The Constitution was written to control the rights of power and the distribution of the power in politics more than in economics.

Around 1913, Charles A. Beard released his interpretation of the Constitution, in which he announced that the Constitution was essentially an economic document and that it was written and ratified by economic groups for economic reasons. Beard's idea was not taken lightly, and for a period of time in the early 1900's, his economic theory was believed to be the one and only correct theory. It was believed that nonbelievers were either professional patriots or just naive academicians. Beard explained that the framers of the Constitution had been members of the upper class of society, and that economics were a large part of the Constitution because they would have a direct, positive effect on the framers themselves. However, Henry Steele Commager argued that theory with a theory of his own. Commager was able to prove that even though economics was discussed and was an issue in the writing of the Constitution, politics and power were the major concerns of the framers.

The writers of the Constitution, according to Commager, were more worried about properly distributing governmental powers and control of land than their gaining a personal benefit from raising land value to help themselves. Larger issues such as the distribution of the power which allowed the authority to tax, the raising of armies, regulating commerce, controlling of contracts, enacting bankruptcy legislation, the regulation of western territories, and the making of treaties were resolved before private property values and economics. When Commager looked at the Constitution, he explained that even though economics was discussed and smaller issues arose, a larger, political power struggle was the mainframe for the Constitution.

The basis of the Constitution can differ from person to person based upon separate interpretation, but two main ideas are clearly visible throughout the speech. Economic problems and issues are brought up, confronted, and resolved, but the division of power is the basis for the writing of the Constitution to begin with. Commager's theory rested on the fact that historians and researchers saw that before the Constitution, power was not regulated, but after it was, all power was distributed to all governments as well as jobs and requirements of being in power.