Original scientific paper
On C. A. Beard’s Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
Arsen Bačić
; Faculty of Law, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Charles Austin Beard was one of the most influential American constitutional writers from the first half of the 20th century. He authored numerous books on history, and legal and political sciences. His best-known books include, inter alia, radical views on the federal Constitution (1787) as the “founding fathers” masterpiece. Namely, he believed that the process of creation of the US Constitution was motivated principally by the founding fathers’ own economic interests, and not exclusively by distinguished political and philosophical principles. Beard’s book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (1913) became the subject of numerous debates and challenges immediately upon its publication. This paper recapitulates the fundamental questions of Beard’s interpretation of the US Constitution and re-investigates the connections between constitutionalism with the political ideas of equality and freedom on the one hand, and the economy on the other.
Keywords
C.A. Beard; the Constitution of the United States; economic interpretation of the constitution; constitutional law
Hrčak ID:
153013
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2015.
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