US Primary Foundation: Upholding Upper Class Interests - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States primary foundation indeed is to protect the interests of the upper class who controls most aspects of the government and also are highly represented in the government. During the design of the American constitution a majority of those involved mainly rallied together with the aim of protecting their interests as the upper class and despite of the many campaigns for equality and the concessions that have been made to create an egalitarian society the foundation of the country even today significantly continues to protect the interests of the upper class. According to Greenberg (1997), the framing of the constitution was undertaken by delegate's mostly wealthy men who held government bonds, bankers, prosperous merchants, plantation owners and lawyers whose primary goal was to create a constitution that creates a stable country where their ideals and businesses can flourish. This shows that the fundamental foundation of the nation was pointed towards the protection of the interests of the upper-class minority in the country which strengthened capitalism to safeguard their rights. The constitution primary goal and intention was to protect the rights of the upper class due to the constitution of the framers who were mainly prominent people in the society those that held significant economic control due to their position within the government, the financial sector, plantation owners or lawyers. The exclusion of women, blacks and the native Americans from the low social classes depicts a well planned and executed approach by the upper class to retain control and dominance of the most of the social, political, and economic systems of the country which gave them power and influence over the majority upper class. The lack of diverse representation in the delegation that framed the constitution shows that the resulting constitution would significantly be aimed at protecting the framer's interests and not the majority low class who were not represented and their views and problems within the nation were not taken into account.

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I agree with Charles Beard that the primary goal of the constitution framers was towards satisfying their greed for power and cementing their control over most of the national institutions to protect their sole interests from the majority low class whom they viewed as a threat to their private interests. However, the framers of the constitution despite their private intentions and goals in framing the constitution it should be understood that the systems they created provided for the economic development of the United States through political and economic stability which created wealth and spread development equally even to the low class. The overall control of the upper class on every aspect of the economy and political sphere using constitutional protections can be found in Parenti (2010) arguments on the overall crackdown over the workers strikes in the 19th century. The government machinery deliberately being used by the majority upper class who owns most of the corporations waged war against the poor workers. The workers who were complaining of the poor working conditions and compensation were actively suppressed by the government which indicated that the overall foundation of the nation was for the protection of the private interests of the upper class at the expense of the poor majority in the country. The upper-class minority and corporations were against labor strikes because they did not want to incur more production costs, which could reduce their profits. Besides, even in the cases where the government granted the workers more significant benefits the corporations and the upper class producers raised the prices of goods without any protest of the government which negatively affects the poor Americans and benefits the upper class minority through high incomes which compensates their losses in conceding to the salary needs of the workers.

Class Power in Early America

Class power refers to the dominance of a group of people due to their social class over other people due to their access to exclusive social, economic, and political benefits over other members of the society. It is clear that a class power in early America existed and was dominated by the upper-class minority who controlled most aspect of the nation's economic and political elements. Most of the political representation and decision making in regard to framing the constitution was the work of the upper-class minority in which the majority poor working class and soldiers were not represented economically and politically in the creation of the countries institutions and laws and to a significant interests their primary goal was to protect the interests of the upper-class minority. In Greenberg (1997), the primary purpose of the struggle for democracy in the United States was to counter the dominance of the white male property owners who controlled the factors of production, political processes, government institutions such as banks and also the social elements of the society where the upper class had a more prestige position in the early American society compared to the low class of worker who mainly worked in plantations and industries owned by the minority upper class. The minority upper-class power was derived in their strategic advantage over the low class in society. By being the majority during the framing of the constitution gave the minority white male property owners control over other low-class workers and slaves in the plantations. The constitution was framed with the interest of the upper-class economic elements in mind with stability and protection of private interests being given precedence over the majority workers. The upper-class control over the government machinery such as the police and the military made it possible to crack down against the striking laborers from the low class who did not have any power within the government or economic mechanisms (Parenti, 2010).

Class Power Impact on Democracy and Writing of the United States Constitution

The class power differences in the United States has had a significant impact on the nation's constitution and campaigns for inclusion. According to Parenti (2010), one of the considerable implications of class power struggles is violence by the majority of low-class who were demanding equality and more excellent representation in the government. One of such impacts was the Shays's rebellion, which led to a crisis meeting in Philadelphia to strategize an approach of reducing the threat of the majority low-class. This led to the creation of a popular democratic government while still striping it of significant powers through a system of checks and balances. As such, Parenti (2010) points out that the upper-class majority involved in framing constitution conspired to create a democracy without full authority by fragmenting power. As a result, the senators were to be elected by the state legislatures until 1913, when the Seventeen amendment was adopted, allowing the majority to vote for the senators (Parenti, 2010). The president was to be elected by the Electoral College which was to be constituted through elections in 5 states and state legislatures in other states until 1800, and the president was responsible for electing the Supreme Court judges (Parenti, 2010). As such, this arrangement made it easy for the minority upper class to control the policies that they wanted to pass and suppress the majority low class within the constructs of the constitution (Parenti, 2010). The government in the 19th century provided favor to businesses while ignoring the high poverty rate and inequality in the country. Whereas the government was reluctant to protect consumer rights due to lack of constitutional clauses for such actions it was possible to aggressively use troops to break strikes and slaughter native Americans who were forced from their lands to create room for capitalistic development (Parenti, 2010).

Parenti (2010) and Greenberg (1997) Approach to Class Power

Both authors view the class power struggle as a significant subject in early America with institutions and the government being used by the upper class to maintain their class power and position in the nation. The upper class was the minor population, whereas the lower class citizenry was the majority. Despite being many in numbers the low-class were at the mercy of the few landowners, investors, high government officials and industrial entrepreneurs who significantly controlled most of the government machinery and resources due to their financial influence. The minority upper class in both the cases maintained their power in the society through government prejudice and protectionist for their property rights which led to the widening of inequality and poverty between the upper class and the low class. The authors show that despite democratization the upper class who were directly involved in the framing the constitution used it to their advantage and as a result their businesses and corporations prospered which resulted in the suppression of the low-class workers seeking better working and living conditions. Both authors agree that the constitution was the primary agent for the class power struggle and differences with the politicians and the government support for the upper-class interests such as tax cuts, incentives, and being given free land whereas the low class and the natives were displaced just to satisfy the greed of the white male property owners who were a minority.

Today, the United States, despite the government giving out plenty of concessions to the minority blacks, women, and natives. This has been achieved through the constitution amendment, especially the 4th Amendment, which secures the rights of Americans from the government. The government is not allowed to arrest without warrant or seize property. The 14th Amendment which was ratified in 1868 led to civil rights to all people born in the United States which led to the inclusion of the slave's rights and consideration of their rights which was previously not the case. The 15th Amendment provided the citizens with the rights of voting without discrimination of color, race, or servitude condition. Therefore, the constitutional amendments had led to the development of civil and personal rights amongst Americans which was not the case in the 18th and 19th century when the government was being used by the upper class to suppress the lower-class during strikes and general lifestyles. Today, democracy is most representative and the majority vote for their government representatives who can be voted out in every election giving the people a more significant mandate over the government and the upper-class minority (Walter, 2016). However, corporations influence continue to suppress the rights of the majority by corrupting government officials. I believe that the constitutional Amendments has been instrumental in creating equal rights and a government by the majority. Today, democracy is mostly representative who has reduced the potential of one class control over government interests.

References

Walter, K (2016). Companies Have Already Adopted the Best Practices of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. Americanprogress.org. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ext/2016/06/09/139458/companies-have-already-adopted-the-best-practices-of-the-fair-pay-and-safe-workplaces-executive-order/

Parenti, M. (2010). Democracy for the Few. Cengage Learning.

Greenberg, E. S. (1997). The struggle for democracy. Addison-Wesley Publishing.