I spoke last fall at the Museum of American Finance, on good old Wall Street, reviewing founding-era struggles over finance and economics in the context of the Occupy movement and the Tea Party. Here’s the video.
To focus on what really matters, I look a hell of a lot better in my National Archives video. But whatever.
You should check this link…don’t think it is right!
Some sort of problem with MoAF’s site (the millions of hits coming from this blog?); I assume it’ll get fixed.
My response to your question “Why do we have such a problem talking about founding finances that pitted Americans ( debtor vs. creditor ) against each other? Historians, particularly the early ones, were drawn from the “gentlemen’s” class and it was not considered good taste to bring up such grubby issues. I think Beard’s 19193 classic was the first to broach the topic although he did not frame his economic interpretation of the constitution as Americans pitted against Americans. The real value of your frame is that it explains so much and is relevant to current disputes about finance. for current validation of the relevancy, see who suffered the consequences of the bailouts of 2008 and later: debtors.
Enjoyed your talk, but I am having difficulty tracking down the Edmund Randolph remarks you referred to on the need to check the influence of Democracy. Do you have a source? So far, I have found this, but it only gives a summary of the speech. http://declaringamerica.com/randolph-opening-speech-at-the-constitutional-convention-1787-summary/
paulembley
birmingham/uk
Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwfr.html. Farrand is the great source for delegates’ notes on the Constitutional Convention. For Randolph’s kickoff speech, see the entries for May 29, especially McHenry’s and Paterson’s.