Delegates at the United States Convention Against Too Much Democracy

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The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The deep worry about giving ordinary citizens too much power was a constant theme at the convention. It led to many structural checks on people power in the document, especially the powerful president and his veto. Often mixed in with concern about too much democracy were frank remarks about divisions of wealth and class.

In the summer of 1787, fifty-five men got together in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the United States, replacing the new nation’s original blueprint, the Articles of Confederation. But why, exactly? What problems were the framers trying to solve? Was the Constitution designed to advance democracy, or to rein it in? And how can the answers to those questions inform our crises of democracy today?

By producer/host John Biewen with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Woody Holton, Dan Bullen, and Price Thomas. The series editor is Loretta Williams.