Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard | |
---|---|
Born | Charles Austin Beard November 27, 1874 Knightstown, Indiana, US |
Died | September 1, 1948 New Haven, Connecticut, US | (aged 73)
Spouse |
Progressive historiography |
Notable works |
|
Influenced | William Appleman Williams[2] |
Charles Austin Beard (November 27, 1874 – September 1, 1948) was an American historian and professor, who wrote primarily during the first half of the 20th century. A history professor at
An icon of the progressive school of historical interpretation, his reputation suffered during the Cold War when the assumption of economic class conflict was dropped by most American historians. The consensus historian Richard Hofstadter concluded in 1968, "Today Beard's reputation stands like an imposing ruin in the landscape of American historiography. What was once the grandest house in the province is now a ravaged survival."[4] Hofstadter nevertheless praised Beard by saying he was "foremost among the American historians of his or any generation in the search for a usable past."[5]
Early life and education
Childhood
Charles Austin Beard was born on November 27, 1874, in
Education
Beard went to England in 1899 for graduate studies at
Career
Columbia University
After receiving his doctorate from
Among the many works that he published during his years at Columbia, the most controversial was An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913), an interpretation of how the economic interests of the members of the Constitutional Convention affected their votes. He emphasized the polarity between agrarians and business interests. Academics and politicians denounced the book, but it was well respected by scholars until it was challenged in the 1950s.[13]
World War I
Beard strongly supported American participation in the
Independent scholar
Following his departure from Columbia University, Beard never again sought a permanent academic appointment. His financial independence was secured by lucrative
Beard had parallel careers as an historian and political scientist. He was active in the American Political Science Association and was elected as its president in 1926.[18] He was also a member of the American Historical Association and served as its president in 1933.[19] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1936.[20] In political science, he was best known for his textbooks, his studies of the Constitution, his creation of bureaus of municipal research, and his studies of public administration in cities. Beard also taught history at the Brookwood Labor College.[21]
Beard was a leading liberal supporter of the New Deal and an intellectual leader in the Progressive movement.[14] However, Beard was very critical of the majoritarian vision of democracy that most Progressive leaders endorsed. In fact, "Beard refrained from endorsing direct democracy measures as a blueprint for reform, focusing instead on streamlining the American system of government to incorporate in a transparent fashion, both political parties and interest groups."[22]
World War II
Beard opposed President
However, some of the arguments in his President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War influenced the "
Legacy
Progressive historiography
By the 1950s, Beard's economic interpretation of history had fallen out of favor; only a few prominent historians held to his view of
Constitution
The historian Carl L. Becker's History of Political Parties in the Province of New York, 1760–1776 (1909) formulated the progressive interpretation of the American Revolution. He said that there were two revolutions: one against Britain to obtain home rule and the other to determine who should rule at home. Beard expanded upon Becker's thesis, in terms of class conflict, in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913) and An Economic Interpretation of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915). To Beard, the Constitution was a counter-revolution set up by rich bondholders ("personalty" since bonds were "personal property"), against the farmers and planters ("realty" since land was "real property"). Beard argued the Constitution was designed to reverse the radical democratic tendencies unleashed by the Revolution among the common people, especially farmers and debtors. In 1800, according to Beard, the farmers and debtors, led by plantation slaveowners, overthrew the capitalists and established Jeffersonian democracy. Other historians supported the class conflict interpretation by noting the states confiscated great semifeudal landholdings of Loyalists and gave them out in small parcels to ordinary farmers. Conservatives, such as William Howard Taft, were shocked at the progressive interpretation because it seemed to belittle the Constitution. Many scholars, however, eventually adopted Beard's thesis and by 1930, it had become the standard interpretation of the era.[27]
In about 1950, however, historians started to argue that the progressive interpretation was factually incorrect because the voters had not really been polarized along two economic lines. The historians were led by Charles A. Barker, Philip Crowl, Richard P. McCormick, William Pool, Robert Thomas, John Munroe, Robert E. Brown and B. Kathryn Brown, and especially Forrest McDonald.[28] In Forrest McDonald's We The People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (1958) argued that Beard had misinterpreted the economic interests involved in writing the Constitution. Instead of two conflicting interests, landed and mercantile, McDonald identified some three-dozen identifiable economic interests operating at cross purposes, which forced the delegates to bargain.[13] Evaluating the historiographical debate, Peter Novick concluded: "By the early 1960s it was generally accepted within the historical profession that... Beard's Progressive version of the... framing of the Constitution had been decisively refuted. American historians came to see... the framers of the Constitution, rather than having self-interested motives, were led by concern for political unity, national economic development, and diplomatic security."[29] Ellen Nore, Beard's biographer, concludes that his interpretation of the Constitution collapsed because of more recent and sophisticated analysis.[30]
In a strong sense, that view simply involved a reaffirmation of the position that Beard had always criticized by saying that parties were prone to switch rhetorical ideals when their interest dictated.[31] Beard's economic determinism was largely replaced by the intellectual history approach, which stressed the power of ideas, especially republicanism, in stimulating the Revolution.[32] However, the legacy of examining the economic interests of American historical actors can still be found in the 21st century. Recently, in To Form a More Perfect Union: A New Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution (2003), Robert A. McGuire, relying on a sophisticated statistical analysis, argues that Beard's basic thesis regarding the impact of economic interests in the making of the Constitution is not far from the mark.[33]
Civil War and Reconstruction
Beard's interpretation of the Civil War was highly influential among historians and the general public from its publication in 1927 to well into the
Thomas J. Pressly says that Beard fought against the prevailing nationalist interpretation that depicted "a conflict between rival section-nations rooted in social, economic, cultural, and ideological differences." Pressly said that Beard instead portrayed a "struggle between two economic economies having its origins in divergent material interests."[35] Much more important was the calculus of class conflict. Beard announced that the Civil War was really a "social cataclysm in which the capitalists, laborers, and farmers of the North and West drove from power in the national government the planting aristocracy of the South," arguing that the events were a second American Revolution.[36] Beard was especially interested in the postwar era, as the industrialists of the Northeast and the farmers of the West cashed in on their great victory over the southern aristocracy. Hofstadter paraphrased Beard as arguing that in victory,
the Northern capitalists were able to impose their economic program, quickly passing a series of measures on tariffs, banking, homesteads, and immigration that guaranteed the success of their plans for economic development. Solicitude for the Freedman had little to do with northern policies. The Fourteenth Amendment, which gave the Negro his citizenship, Beard found significant primarily as a result of a conspiracy of a few legislative draftsman friendly to corporations to use the supposed elevation of the blacks as a cover for a fundamental law giving strong protection to business corporations against regulation by state government.[37]
Dealing with the
Works and writings
- 1901 – Beard, Charles Austin, The Industrial Revolution
- 1904 – Beard, Charles Austin, The Office of Justice of the Peace in England: In its Origin and Development
- 1914 – Beard, Charles A. Some Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy, The American Historical Review
- 1913 – Beard, Charles, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
- 1915 – Beard, Charles, Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy
- 1919 – Beard, Charles A. and Ogg, Frederic Austin. National Governments and the World War
- 1921 – Beard, Charles A. and Beard, Mary Ritter. History of the United States (2 vols.)
- 1923 – Beard, Charles, The Administration and Politics of Tokyo
- 1927 – Beard, Charles A. and Beard, Mary Ritter, The Rise of American Civilization
- 1932 – Beard, Charles, A Century of Progress
- 1932 – Beard, Charles, The Myth of Rugged American Individualism
- 1934 – Beard, Charles A. Written history as an act of faith. American Historical Review
- 1935 – Beard, Charles A. That Noble Dream, The American Historical Review
- 1936 – Beard, Charles A. The Devil Theory of War: An Inquiry into the Nature of History and the Possibility of Keeping Out of War
- 1939 – Beard, Charles A. and Beard, Mary Ritter, America in Midpassage
- 1940 – Beard, Charles A. A Foreign Policy for America
- 1946 – Beard, Charles A. American Foreign Policy in the Making, 1932-1940; a Study in Responsibilities
- 1948 – Beard, Charles A. President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War, 1941; a Study in Appearances and Realities.
See also
- Political history in the United States, for historiography
References
Citations
- ^ Wilkins 1959, p. 21.
- ^ Siegel 1997, p. 156.
- ^ Gibson 2006, pp. 7–12; Kraus & Joyce 1985, pp. 252–265.
- ^ Hofstadter 1968, p. 344.
- ^ Kraus & Joyce 1985, pp. 252–265.
- ^ M. R. Beard 1955, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Bender 1999; Braeman 1982, pp. 93–117; Phillips 1959.
- ^ Wilkins 1956, pp. 277–284.
- ^ C. A. Beard 1911; Bender 1999.
- ^ Cott 1999.
- ^ C. A. Beard 1911; Bender 1999.
- ^ a b Bender 1999.
- ^ a b Coleman 1960.
- ^ a b c Drake 2019.
- ^ a b "Quits Columbia; Assails Trustees". The New York Times. October 9, 1917. p. 1.
- ^ Rosenthal 2006, p. 236.
- ^ C. A. Beard 1923, p. 11.
- ^ Past Presidents List, APSA website.
- ^ Past Presidents List, AHA website.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ Nash 1981, p. 71.
- ^ Cázares Lira 2020.
- ^ "The Old Cause by Joseph Stromberg".
- ^ Stourzh 1957.
- ^ Spencer 1998, p. 580.
- ^ Hofstadter 1968, pp. 167–346.
- ^ Barrow 2000, p. 153.
- ^ Schuyler 1961, pp. 73–80.
- ^ Novick 1988, p. 336
- ^ Nore 1987, pp. 39–44.
- ^ C. A. Beard 1922, pp. 158–159.
- ^ McDonald 1997, pp. 13–18.
- ^ Sobel 2004.
- ^ Ramsdell 1937, pp. 16–18.
- ^ Pressly 1954, pp. 238–249, quote on p. 243
- ^ Lynd 1965.
- ^ Hofstadter 1968, p. 303.
- ^ Hofstadter 1968, pp. 344–346; Pressly 1961, pp. 91–92; Gallaway 1965, pp. 244–254.
Bibliography
- Barrow, Clyde W. (2000). More Than a Historian: The Political and Economic Thought of Charles A. Beard. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7658-0027-5.
- Beard, Charles A. (1911). An Introduction to the English Historians. New York: Macmillan Company.
- ——— (1922). The Economic Basis of Politics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf (published 1928).
- ——— (1923). The Administration and Politics of Tokyo. New York: Macmillan Company. ISBN 978-0-598-88619-4.
- ISBN 978-0-598-88625-5.
- ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7.
- Braeman, John (1982). "Charles A. Beard: The Formative Years in Indiana". Indiana Magazine of History. 78 (2): 93–127. JSTOR 27790605.
- JSTOR 2591882.
- Cázares Lira, Victor Manuel (2020). "Charles A. Beard's Vision of Government: Rethinking American Democracy in the Machine Age". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 19 (1): 122–149. S2CID 211669429.
- Coleman, Peter J. (1960). "Beard, McDonald, and Economic Determinism in American Historiography: A Review Article". The Business History Review. 34 (1): 113–121. S2CID 154458046.
- .
- Drake, Richard (2019). Charles Austin Beard: The Return of the Master Historian of American Imperialism. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
- Gallaway, B. P. (1965). "Economic Determinism in Reconstruction Historiography". Southwestern Social Science Quarterly. 46 (3): 244–254. JSTOR 42880283.
- Gibson, Alan (2006). Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700614547.
- ISBN 9780307809605.
- Kraus, Michael & Joyce, Davis D. (1985). The Writing of American History (Revised ed.). University of Oklahoma Press.
- Lynd, Staughton (1965). "Rethinking Slavery and Reconstruction". Journal of Negro History. 50 (3): 198–209. S2CID 149612887.
- McDonald, Forrest (1997). "Colliding with the Past". Reviews in American History. 25 (1): 13–18. S2CID 144456910.
- Nash, Al (1981). Ruskin College: A Challenge to Adult and Labor Education. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-87546-084-0.
- Nore, Ellen (1987). "Charles A. Beard's Economic Interpretation of the Origins of the Constitution". This Constitution: A Bicentennial Chronicle. Courier Corporation. pp. 39–44. ISBN 9780486140452.
- Phillips, Clifton J. (1959). "The Indiana Education of Charles A. Beard". Indiana Magazine of History. 55 (1): 1–15. JSTOR 27788635.
- Pressly, Thomas J., Americans Interpret Their Civil War (1954) pp. 238–249, quote on p. 243.
- ——— (1961). "Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction". Civil War History. 7 (1): 91–92. S2CID 144355361.
- Ramsdell, Charles W. (1937). "The Changing Interpretation of the Civil War". Journal of Southern History. 3 (1): 16–18. JSTOR 2192113.
- Rosenthal, Michael (2006). Nicholas Miraculous: The Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler.
- Schuyler, Robert Livingston (1961). "Forrest McDonald's Critique of the Beard Thesis". The Journal of Southern History. 27 (1): 73–80. JSTOR 2204594.
- ISBN 978-0-691-04829-1.
- Sobel, Russell S. (2004). "Review: To Form a More Perfect Union: A New Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution by Robert A. McGuire". The Independent Review.
- Spencer, Thomas E. (February 11, 1998). Where They're Buried: A Directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries, with Listings of Many Prominent People who Were Cremated. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 580. ISBN 9780806348230– via Google Books.
- Stourzh, Gerald (1957). "Charles A. Beard's Interpretations of American Foreign Policy". World Affairs Quarterly. 28 (2): 111–148.
- JSTOR 27788373.
- JSTOR 2710725.
Further reading
- Blaser, Kent (1992). "The Rise of American Civilization and the Contemporary Crisis in American Historiography". The History Teacher. 26 (1): 71–90. JSTOR 494087.
- Borning, Bernard C. (1949). "The Political Philosophy of Young Charles A. Beard". The American Political Science Review. 43 (6): 1165–1178. S2CID 145433943.
- Borning, Bernard C., The Political and Social Thought of Charles A. Beard (University of Washington Press, 1962) online edition
- Braeman, John (January 16, 2009). "Charles A. Beard: The English Experience". Journal of American Studies. 15 (2): 165–189. S2CID 145565345.
- Brown, David S., Beyond the Frontier: Midwestern Historians in the American Century (2009)
- Brown, Robert Eldon, Charles Beard and the Constitution: A critical analysis of "An economic interpretation of the Constitution" (1954)
- Cott, Nancy F. A Woman Making History: Mary Ritter Beard through Her Letters (1991)
- Craig, Campbell (April 2001). "The Not-So-Strange Career of Charles Beard". Diplomatic History. 25 (2): 251–274. .
- Dennis, L. George S. Counts and Charles A. Beard: Collaborators for Change. (SUNY Series in the Philosophy of Education). (State Univ of New York Press, 1990)
- Egnal, Marc (2001). "The Beards Were Right: Parties in the North, 1840–1860". Civil War History. 47 (1): 30–56. S2CID 145549298.
- Hofstadter, Richard (1950). "Beard and the Constitution: The History of an Idea". American Quarterly. 2 (3): 195–213. JSTOR 3031337.
- Kennedy, Thomas C., Charles A. Beard and American Foreign Policy (1975) online edition
- Lann, Ann J. Mary Ritter Beard: A Sourcebook (1977)
- McDonald, Forrest, We The People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (1958)
- Nakajima, Hiroo (2013). "Beyond War: The Relationship between Takagi Yasaka and Charles and Mary Beard." The Japanese Journal of American Studies. 24: 125–144.
- Nore, Ellen. Charles A. Beard: An Intellectual Biography (1983). online edition
- Philbin, James P. "Charles Austin Beard: Liberal Foe of American Internationalism." Humanitas 13 (2): 90–107.
- Phillips, Clifton J. (1959). "Charles A. Beard's Recollections of Henry County, Indiana". Indiana Magazine of History. 55 (1): 17–23. JSTOR 27788636.
- Radosh, Ronald. Prophets on the Right: Profiles of Conservative Critics of American Globalism (1978)
- Strout, Cushing. The Pragmatic Revolt in American History: Carl Becker and Charles Beard (1958) online edition
- Williams, William Appleman (1956). "A Note on Charles Austin Beard's Search for a General Theory of Causation". The American Historical Review. 62 (1): 59–80. JSTOR 1848512.
External links
- Works by Charles A. Beard at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Charles A. Beard at The Online Books Page
- AHA Bibliography of the writings of Charles Beard
- Rule, John C., and Ralph D. Handen. "Bibliography of Works on Carl Lotus Becker
and Charles Austin Beard, 1945–1963."JSTOR 2504448. - Recent empirical research on Beard's thesis and economic factors behind the American Constitution
- Class and Pluralism in America: The Constitution Reconsidered
- Article by Archived December 23, 2002, at the Wayback Machine Nancy Cott from The Reader's Companion to American History (registration required)
- "H-Diplo Roundtable XXI-9 on Charles Austin Beard: The Return of the Master Historian of American Imperialism" (2019).