On Sun, 7 Jan 2007, Tayssir John Gabbour wrote:
> Does anyone know a resource on how parts of the US gov't were
> intentionally structured in a non-democratic way by the constitutional
> framers? (So for example, it might explain why they believed that the
> Senate would turn out to be more accountable to wealthy property owners
> than to the people.)
There's a vast literature on this, Tayssir, from every possible angle. But to get started, I think everyone would agree that the locus classicus for this view is Charles Beard's 1913 book _An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States of America_. There have been many generations of critique and counter-critique since. I think the most influential book of recent years arguing that the American revolution really was deeply revolutionary is probably Gordon Wood's _The Radicalism of the American Revolution_.
If you need something quickly, probably googling those guys names will turn you up on-line commentary and summary. You might also feed in the phrase "Federalist No. 10" When people make the argument in a nutshell, that's the text that's usually their jumping off point. It played a big role in Beard's book and it's an argument that's still alive today. I bet you can find it in the lbo-talk archives.
Michael