Eric Harris
Rough Draft
Friday Paper
10/29/2015
Zinn vs Schweikart and Allen
In A People’s History of the United States (1980) by Howard Zinn, he makes the argument that the US Constitution was written to protect the selfish economic interests of the wealthy. Zinn has plenty of logical information to back his statement up, but in A Patriot’s History of the United States (2004) by Schweikart and Allen opposes the idea. They argue that the constitution was written to promote selfless ideas of unity and political truth like it should have. Schweikart and Allen feel that true patriots are ignored due to too much emphasis on political correctness. Their “true patriot” and only valid argument is that George Washington declined power for the country’s own good by opting out of his 3rd term as president. Sure, George Washington may have been a great leader and person, but to say that Washington’s selfless actions represents the motives of all of those in power, is preposterous.
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To gain support, they gave the allusion to the less powerful that the power was equally distributed. Right after the constitution, voting was basically exclusive to Protestant, land-owning white men. It wasn’t until 1856 when North Carolina was the last state to lift its property requirements for voting. Even then it wasn't until the 15th Amendment in 1869 and the 19th Amendment in 1919 than let all men and then all women vote. How voting rights were set up exemplify the the “elite” trying to maintain their high