AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES [Illustration: logo] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS · ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES BY CHARLES A. BEARD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICS IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1914 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1913. Reprinted July, 1914. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. PREFACE The following pages are frankly fragmentary. They are designed to suggest new lines of historical research rather than to treat the subject in an exhaustive fashion. This apology is not intended as an anticipation of the criticism of reviewers, but as a confession of fact. No one can appreciate more fully than I do how much of the work here outlined remains to be done. The records of the Treasury Department at Washington, now used for the first time in connection with a study of the formation of the Constitution, furnish a field for many years’ research, to say nothing of the other records, printed and unprinted, which throw light upon the economic conditions of the United States between 1783–1787. If it be asked why such a fragmentary study is printed now, rather than held for the final word, my explanation is brief. I am unable to give more than an occasional period to uninterrupted studies, and I cannot expect, therefore, to complete within a reasonable time the survey which I have made here. Accordingly, I print it in the hope that a few of this generation of historical scholars may be encouraged to turn away from barren “political” history to a study of the real economic forces which condition great movements in politics. Students already familiar with the field here surveyed will discover that I have made full use of the suggestive work already done by Professor Turner, Drs. Libby, Ambler, and Schaper.