the Unlike Articles of Confederation, the Constitution allotted more rights to the central government, including more regulation of trade, the disposition of western lands, and the ability to wage war, but also provided the states with many rights. Although the document was purely political and only secondarily economic, many believed that the elite wrote it for their own benefit. At the rise of robber barons in the early 1900's, Charles Beard drew the conclusion that "as practical men [the writers of the Constitution] were able to build the new government upon the only foundations which would be stable: fundamental economic interests" (Beard 110). In other words, he thought that the privileged men writing the Constitution wrote it to protect their own property. However, these men, who were the most educated in the colonies and most fit to attend the Constitutional Convention, had the wellbeing of the entire population in mind when writing this monumental document. The structure of government benefited everyone in the growing nation. The United States was to have three branches with checks and balances on one another: the Executive branch, the Legislative branch, and the Judicial Branch. Alexander Hamilton, in his "Federalist Papers," referred to this three-branch system as an "energetic" government, which should be supported because "its distribution and organization [would] more properly claim attention under the succeeding head" (Hamilton, 23). "The House of Representatives [was] composed of members chosen every second year by the people of all the several states" and was the people's direct influence on the Legislative branch of government (1.2.1). The second half of the Congress consisted of the Senate, in which each state had equal representation of two senators (1.2.5). The reason the President was not voted directly by the people was for the purpose of equality; "its purpose was to overcome state pride and particularism" (Commager 136). The people also did not vote directly for the Judicial branch members because they assumed the President would consider the opinions of the people when choosing a judge. Through the system of checks and balances, the Constitution made each branch equal in power. For instance, "all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments" (1.7.1), but a President can veto it (1.7.2). Then if two thirds of Congress approves of the vetoed bill, it will become a law (1.7.2), and the Supreme Court then has the authority to deem the amendment Constitutional (3.1.1). The final check on the President is the House's ability to impeach a President (2.4.1). Aside from the powers within the central government, the Constitution also gives the states many rights that benefit the majority. The framers granted the Senate the power to coin money and regulate trade not for the sake of diminishing States' rights, but to help unite the forming nation. If states had separate economies, national conflict would ensue and surely divide the United States. As Jefferson himself said, "I know no danger so dreadful and so probable as that of internal contests." Another benefit of regulation of trade was that foreign nations would be more willing to trade because of the consistent coin system. The Constitution also took the power of funding for war away from the states. The Senate could "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense general and welfare of the United States" uniformly throughout the population (1.8.1). As Alexander Hamilton pointed out, "it requires no skill in the science of war to discern that uniformity in the organization and discipline of the militia would be attended with the most beneficial effects" (Hamilton,
29). The separation of both the powers in the central government and the powers between states and nation benefited the people because their direct representation affected political change and the powers of the nation were for their benefit. The Constitutional Congress can be described as the most educated men in the United States convening in one central location to write and ratify a document that would benefit a growing country. Since education correlates with wealth, these men also happened to be the elite and their goal was to create a working country and not a government for their own benefit. As George Washington said, "We shall be instruments in the hands of our Enemies [if we act with] unreasonable jealousies and prejudices." These men had just won a war and knew what it felt like to be unrepresented in the government. The men acted as anything but "a consolidated economic group" (Forrester 1958). One fourth of the delegates were economically adversely affected by the Constitution; in Delaware 2/3 of the delegates were small farmers; in New Jersey 64% of the delegates were small farmers (Forrester 1958). Therefore these men were not all elite and therefore did not have the bias of the elite in mind when framing the Constitution. Beard argues that these men were "economic beneficiaries from the adoption of the Constitution" and that the document benefits the minority more than it benefits the majority (Beard 109). It didn't free slaves or let women vote. It also didn't let the popular vote determine the majority of the government. What the Constitution lacked, like allowing women to vote and freeing the slaves, it made up for with Article V, which allowed the Congress to "propose amendments to the Constitution." The Constitution would not have been ratified if it had made drastically liberal social changes, so the framers had to figure out a way to allow for change without instilling it. Because they gave the government the power to amend their document, the framers influenced the eventual women's right to vote amendment and freeing the slaves. Although the new government also imposed on the States with strict regulation of trade and coinage, they did it for the benefit of the people. The nation was just forming and therefore it needed the glue of standard coinage and measurements to keep it together. In terms of the structure of the government, the main goal was to have equal state power and not to limit the rights of the people (Commager 136). In addition, there was no property qualification for voting (Commager 137). In the end, the power of the government did lie with people because they directly voted for the House of Representatives, which had important checks on the other branches of government. The framers of the Constitution formed a document that generations of people were to live by. It marked the start of a new civilization and was not an outlet for wealthy men to get wealthier. The Constitution was written by the educated for the general public and benefited them in every possible way. While it couldn't propel massive social change and a true democracy, it was a document in federalism a document that determined the breakdown of and "energetic" government.