"A People's History"

            In this chapter of the book, one point is greatly emphasized: the men who worked together to create the Constitution were all relatively wealthy. This meant many things for the new nation, one of which being that the people were being ruled, directly and indirectly, by the same men who had been in charge when they were colonies and even when they were back in England. This setup created an issue because, just as it is today, the masses of people were middle-class citizens, not the wealthy men who constructed the nation’s laws.

            The reading continues to talk about the consequences of this structure, which include the average working men growing dissatisfied with their poor representation in government. It seems as if the wealthy citizens were the only ones who were capable of participating in government, and to some extent, this is the way government is even today. The average working Americans most likely could not afford to campaign, giving the more privileged candidates the upper hand.

            As a new nation, the United States had been all about promoting equality, although it seems like this goal was not achieved right away due to the lack of representation in government. It is sort of shocking that men who did not own property, women, Indians, and slaves were excluded from government and the voting process. Right off the bat, the founding fathers were hindering the nation from ensuring true equality.

            Even so, it is clear that the Constitution was a success because it has lasted so long with relatively few modifications and additions. 

This is a "wordle" of the U.S. Constitution. Most of these words are not surprising, and you can really get a good idea about the main topics of the document. 

At the time that the Constitution was written, many groups of Americans were not represented, including African-Americans, Native Americans, women, and slaves. Throughout history, civil rights and women's rights movements led to the creation of new Amendments that included these groups. 

Did the American citizens realize that the people representing them were not very diverse?