Quiz: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States

10 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. Whose writing does Beard present as a clear early statement of economic determinism in politics? Karl Marx’s, in Capital John Adams’s, in his Defence of the Constitutions Thomas Jefferson’s, in the Declaration of Independence James Madison’s, in The Federalist
2. According to Madison’s 1788 letter to Jefferson, which provisions created more enemies of the Constitution than all its other faults together? Those on treaties, paper money and contracts Those on the Senate and the powers of the presidency Those on the militia and on standing armies in peace Those on the slave trade and on representation
3. What was Franklin’s view of the country’s condition early in 1787, as Beard reports it? It was close to collapse and needed a monarchy Farmers were suffering badly from falling land values and heavy taxes It was generally prosperous, and complaints came from a noisy few Only the fishing trade was doing well
4. Why, according to Beard, did the Annapolis convention fail to achieve more? Its delegates were all Antifederalists Congress forbade it to meet Too few delegates attended It was broken up by Shays’s followers
5. What gain does Beard estimate came to holders of securities through the adoption of the Constitution? About $100 million in all At least $40 million Nothing measurable About $4 million
6. How did Pennsylvania’s Federalists obtain the quorum needed to call the state convention? Congress ordered the absent members to attend They lowered the required quorum by a vote of the members who remained present They held a special election in the western counties to replace the absent members Officers and a mob seized absent members and forced them into the house
7. In Knox’s letter to Washington, what did the third Massachusetts party, the “Insurgents or their favorers,” want? An annihilation of debts, public and private A national bank A government like the British, with a king A separate state in Maine
8. In which state did all adult men, without property qualifications, vote for delegates to the ratifying convention? Virginia Pennsylvania Massachusetts New York
9. What did New York’s 1788 elections show, according to Beard? Far more voted for the ratifying convention, under manhood suffrage, than for the assembly Turnout was the same in both elections, since the same property rules applied to each of them Fewer men voted for the ratifying convention than for the assembly, as the issue drew little interest Property qualifications for voting were abolished for good in New York in that same year
10. What is Beard’s rough estimate of how many men favoured ratification? About 1,900,000, the population of the doubtful states Not more than 100,000, about one in six adult males About 13,000, the number who voted in Pennsylvania About half of all adult males

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