Empire of Liberty

Pratt is correct -- this book is massive. I can hardly lift it. I have read the Introduction and Chapter 1. The point of the move from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, according to my reading of Woods, is that the founding fathers wanted to ensure that the "natural aristocracy" of enlightened men would rule. On page 17 Woods quotes Robert Livingston that state legislatures had become full of men unimproved by education and unreformed by honor. On page 21 Woods says, "When the Revolutionary leaders had asserted that all men were created equal, most had not imagined that ordinary people, farmers, artisans, and other workers would actually come to hold high governmental office." Then on page 27 hew quotes Hamilton in Federalist No. 35, that "the learned professions" by which he meant lawyers, "will feel a neutrality to the rivalsips between the different branches of industry" and will most likely to be "an impartial arbiter" between the diverse interests of the society.

I have never been an admirer of Hamilton, but this quotation makes him seem foolish. Why would this "natural aristocracy" not be self interested? Why would they not want power or more power?

I find it fascinating that by 1787 the special interests or factions had already begun dominating democracy. This is always the demise of democracy and has been historically in Rome, in Athens, and in the United States. And, the founders knew this. I suspect we will see this viewpoint later in the book.