
The US Constitution has been described as \made for people of fundamentally differing views\, meaning that it does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. However, the Constitution has been argued to protect the capitalist system in several ways. Firstly, it created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants, financial and land speculators, and capitalist slave owners. Secondly, it established a common market and trade policies that supported the country's independent existence and protected the rising capitalist elite. Thirdly, it gave the federal government powers to regulate commerce, establish bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, and make laws to enforce and protect the government's powers, all of which played a key role in securing capitalist relations of production and supporting capitalist development.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Protects merchants and financial and land speculators | The federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect these groups |
| Protects rising capitalist elite | The federal government created a common market and trade policies to support the rising capitalist elite |
| Protects capitalist slave owners | The foundation of the government was the protection of private property, including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth |
| Supports capitalist development | The federal government has the power to lay and collect taxes, regulate commerce, establish naturalisation and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, and more |
| Does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory | Decisions about national policy are left to the democratic process, subject to the constraints of the Bill of Rights |
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What You'll Learn
- The federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators
- The government also protected capitalist slave owners
- The Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory
- The Constitution gives the government the power to regulate commerce
- The Constitution protects the right to private property

The federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators
The US Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. Instead, it leaves decisions about national policy to the democratic process, subject to the constraints of the Bill of Rights. However, the federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators, whose power would grow in the following decades. It also created a common market and trade policies that would support both the basic continued independent existence of the country, along with protecting the rising capitalist elite.
The new powers of the federal government would play a key role in the creation of a national state that would secure capitalist relations of production and support capitalist development in the long run. These included the power to lay and collect taxes and generate revenue from an impost, borrow money, regulate commerce, establish naturalization and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, build post offices and roads, secure patents, create federal courts, punish offences on the seas and “against the Law of Nations”, declare war, raise a federal army and navy, call forth militias to crush rebellion, control the territory where the federal seat of government would be, and make laws to enforce, protect, and execute the federal government's powers.
The Constitution also protected capitalist slave owners, as the foundation of the government was the protection of private property, including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth.
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The government also protected capitalist slave owners
The US Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. Instead, it leaves decisions about national policy to the democratic process, subject to the constraints of the Bill of Rights. However, the federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators, whose power would grow in the following decades. It also created a common market and trade policies that would support both the basic continued independent existence of the country, along with protecting the rising capitalist elite.
The Constitution gave the federal government the power to lay and collect taxes and generate revenue from an impost, borrow money, regulate commerce, establish naturalization and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, build post offices and roads, secure patents, create federal courts, punish offences on the seas and “against the Law of Nations,,” declare war, raise a federal army and navy, call forth militias to crush rebellion, control the territory where the federal seat of government would be, and make laws to enforce, protect, and execute the federal government's powers. These new powers would play a key role in the creation of a national state that would secure capitalist relations of production and support capitalist development in the long run.
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The Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory
The US Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. Instead, it leaves decisions about national policy to the democratic process, subject to the constraints of the Bill of Rights. This means that Americans can decide, through their elected representatives, to have high taxes or low, generous welfare payments or a basic social safety net, government-owned enterprises or privatisation, heavy-handed or light-touch regulation.
However, the Constitution does include certain powers that would play a key role in the creation of a national state that would secure capitalist relations of production and support capitalist development in the long run. These include the power to lay and collect taxes, generate revenue, borrow money, regulate commerce, establish naturalisation and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, build post offices and roads, secure patents, create federal courts, punish offences on the seas and “against the Law of Nations”, declare war, raise a federal army and navy, call forth militias to crush rebellion, control the territory where the federal seat of government would be, and make laws to enforce, protect, and execute the federal government's powers.
The Constitution also created a national common market, which allowed investment capital to flow through and supported the basic continued independent existence of the country, along with protecting the rising capitalist elite. It also protected capitalist slave owners by protecting the right to private property, including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth.
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The Constitution gives the government the power to regulate commerce
The US Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. Instead, it leaves decisions about national policy to the democratic process, subject to the constraints of the Bill of Rights.
The federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators, whose power would grow in the following decades. It also created a common market and trade policies that would support both the basic continued independent existence of the country, along with protecting the rising capitalist elite. Capitalist slave owners would also be protected by the new government.
The foundation of the government was the protection of private property, including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth. This led to the Southern capitalist class reproducing itself.
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The Constitution protects the right to private property
The US Constitution does not commit the nation to any particular ideological or economic theory, including laissez-faire capitalism. However, it does include a number of provisions that support capitalist development and protect the right to private property.
For example, the federal government created the legal infrastructure to protect merchants and financial and land speculators, whose power would grow in the following decades. It also created a common market and trade policies that would support the basic continued independent existence of the country, along with protecting the rising capitalist elite. Capitalist slave owners would also be protected by the new government.
The Constitution also gives the federal government the power to lay and collect taxes, regulate commerce, establish naturalization and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, build post offices and roads, secure patents, create federal courts, declare war, raise a federal army and navy, and call forth militias to crush rebellion. These powers would play a key role in the creation of a national state that would secure capitalist relations of production and support capitalist development in the long run.
The protection of private property, including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth, was a key foundation of the US government. This right is enshrined in the Constitution and has been interpreted by the courts as including the right to use slave labour to produce wealth.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution protects the capitalist system by allowing the federal government to destroy trade barriers between states, creating a national common market. This allows investment capital to flow through.
The US Constitution protects the rights of capitalists by giving the federal government the power to regulate commerce, establish naturalisation and bankruptcy laws, coin and regulate the value of money, secure patents, and make laws to enforce, protect, and execute the federal government's powers.
The US Constitution protects the capitalist system from slavery by protecting the right to use slave labour to produce wealth. This was particularly important for the Southern capitalist class, who relied on plantation slavery as a form of large-scale capitalism.

























