American Revolution
...igned Constitution in order to protect their property (5). During this period of time the wealthiest people in the town held the most property meaning they obtained the most power. While claiming that American Revolution was a democracy, plutocratic elites were designing the Constitution to protect their property by designing checks and balances, introducing the separation of powers, limiting of voting, or political participation, and electing their own representatives (29). . While designing the Constitution, adopted in 1789, which created a framework that protected the elites’ property, many plutocratic elites were claiming that the Constitution represents democracy. In his book, Fresia introduced Peter Spier’s opinion written in his honoring American Constitution book, We The People. Peter Spier wrote that the Constitution “has come to symbolize freedom, justice, equality, and hope for American citizens as individuals and as a collective, democratic nation”(4). Fresia points out that common people “who were not involved in the market economy, who did not own much property, and who were not very rich,” were encouraged to believe in American democracy and think about people’s heritage because thinking “leads to disagreement, or worse, to the challenging of some sacred text”(4). But, in reality the only freedom that existed was a freedom of Framers, merchants or businessmen, from the “Crown and the Church to run their businesses anyway they wanted”(25). Plutocratic elites wished to “create a new political economy in which they were independent from Great Britain but still in possession of power and privilege in their own society”(25). But for common people independence meant “freedom from the oppression of colonial aristocracy as well as freedom from British rule”(27). Another proves of undemocratic system during 18th lies in checks and balances. While checks and balances were viewed as “hallmark of democracy,” they “limited public power, especially the power of the people, and expanded private power, the power of owners of productive property and capital” (52). Fresia shows that purpose of checks and balances was “to check public power, especially the House of Representatives which was closed to the people” and to “balance the House of Representatives by the interests of property by giving property owners a greater voice” (53). In order to establish this goal, the property owners elected the Presidency and the Senate “directly through the Electoral College and state legislatures respectively,” and “the Presidency and the Senate would be given more power than the House in the government” (53). In this system, Senate could check the House of Representatives. Senates were also be given six-years terms, while the House of Representatives were given two-years terms. Fresia explains that Framers added Senate to the system in order to insure that common people, or poor, could “never get a law passed which would be unfavorable to the econom...