Charles A. Beard Quotes
The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon the concept that the fundamental rights of private property are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities.
Charles A. Beard, 1874-1948, Historian, The Economic Interpretation of the United States, 1935
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In a 1949 dissenting opinion in Terminiello v. Chicago Jackson claimed the majority view would “convert the Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”
When President Grover Cleveland balked at introducing legislation that might be unconstitutional, he was asked:
Charles Austin Beard was an American historian who wrote primarily during the first half of the 20th century. A history professor at Columbia University, Beard's influence is primarily due to his publications in the fields of history and political science. His works included a radical re-evaluation of the Founding Fathers of the United States, whom he believed to be more motivated by economics than by philosophical principles. Beard's most influential book, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913), has been the subject of great controversy ever since its publication. While it has been frequently criticized for its methodology and conclusions, it was responsible for a wide-ranging reinterpretation of American history of the founding era. He was also the co-author with his wife, Mary Beard, of The Rise of American Civilization (1927), which had a major influence on American historians.
