Class politics and the emergence of the American state

Why does the US federal government seem to prioritize the interests of the capitalist elite over the interests of other groups? Class Politics and the Rise of the American State draws on a variety of sources—personal letters, official government documents, private memoirs, and newspaper articles—to reveal that the federal government was built to give the emerging capitalist elite a way to consolidate and institutionalize its power. This book challenges both liberal and conservative interpretations of the meaning of the American Constitution, telling a new story about how the American state was formed. The Framers of the Constitution crafted, enshrined in it, a picture of the state that depicted its authority as comprehensive: a system designed to serve all Americans equally. This image contributed to legitimizing the new order, even if the rising capitalist class was the biggest beneficiary. Because the United States in the late 1780s was not a fully capitalist society, the state that was built allowed social classes less integrated into the capitalist system, including some artisans and farmers, limited representation. Class Politics and the Rise of the American State shows how the structure of the early American state functioned primarily to advance capitalist interests, while incorporating other groups sufficiently to maintain a sense of broad representation and inclusion.