osphere of the late nineteenth century.” Therefore Madison and others thought to squelch the possibly dangerous majority by setting up a large number and variety of local interests, so that the people will “be unable to concert and carry into effect their scheme of oppression.” And thus, chief powers went to the propertied. III Constitutional format was a series of ironical statements, as it stands in “direct antithesis to American democratic faith.” Modern America views liberty and freedom as one of the same, but the Founding Fathers thought that the liberty with which they were most concerned was menaced by democracy. In their mind liberty was linked to democracy and not property. To have political influence based on amount of property was “politic as well as just, that the interests and rights of every class should ve duly represented and understood in the public councils.” — James Madison The Convention decided that freedom for property would result in the liberty for all men. Such that the Declaration of Independence was agreed upon by the Fathers as “all men are created equal,” but only as a legal, not as a political or psychological proposition. The main emphasis was the equality between American and the Britons back home.Finally it was decided that democracy unchecked ruled by the masses, “is sure to bring arbitrary redistribution of property, destroying the very essence of liberty.” John Jay believed “The people who own the country ought to govern it.” The result was that “while they thought self-interest the most dangerous and unbrookable quality of man, they necessarily underwrote it in trying to control it.” They generally succeed as seen with competitive capitalist nineteenth century America, with the federal government continuing to provide a stable and acceptable medium with which they could contend.Hofstadte...
