The Constitution Is a Capitalist Document

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The constitution is a capitalist document in that it's meant to attract capital to the american economy. Other parts of the document ave the federal government power to regulate commerce across state and international lines. That was a huge gift to slaveholders who made their money by exporting things like tobacco and cotton. Another gift to the owners of human perty was the fugitive slave clause, complete with its euphemistic language to avoid using the s word.

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.