Aim for FiveUS History

Short answer: secondary sources

Why the Constitution was written: Fiske and Beard

  • Unit 3
  • 3 points
  • About 13 minutes

You read two historians' interpretations and answer three short parts, usually describing how they differ and using evidence you know to support or challenge them. On the exam: Short-answer question 1 of 3, required; the three short-answer questions share a 40-minute section worth 20% of the score.

The question and its sources

Read the two excerpts, then answer parts a, b and c. Write a few sentences for each part; you don't need a thesis.

Source 1

“It is not too much to say that the period of five years following the peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the American people. The dangers from which we were saved in 1788 were even greater than the dangers from which we were saved in 1865. . . . Congress had steadily declined in power and in respectability; it was much weaker at the end of the war than at the beginning; and there was reason to fear that as soon as the common pressure was removed the need for concerted action would quite cease to be felt, and the scarcely formed Union would break into pieces. . . .

“[I]t remains undeniable that the Constitution saved us from anarchy.”

Source: John Fiske, historian, The Critical Period of American History, 1783–1789 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888)

Source 2

“The movement for the Constitution of the United States was originated and carried through principally by four groups of personalty interests which had been adversely affected under the Articles of Confederation: money, public securities, manufactures, and trade and shipping. . . .

“The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon the concept that the fundamental private rights of property are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities. . . .

“In the ratification, it became manifest that the line of cleavage for and against the Constitution was between substantial personalty interests on the one hand and the small farming and debtor interests on the other.”

[Personalty: wealth held as money, government bonds, goods or business property rather than land. Anterior to: existing before.]

Source: Charles A. Beard, historian, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1913)

Suggested time: 13 minutes

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Part (a)

1 point

Briefly describe ONE major difference between Fiske's and Beard's historical interpretations of why the Constitution was created.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (b)

1 point

Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development from the period 1781 to 1789 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Fiske's interpretation.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (c)

1 point

Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development from the period 1781 to 1789 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Beard's interpretation.

0 / 2,500 characters

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