, dic- tated those closing words of the preface to his notes of the debates at the Constitutional Convention. This was how Madison wanted his countrymen to imagine the Convention. In many ways we have fol- lowed his wishes-and will be asked to do so again during the bicen- tennial celebrations.
Yet, for most of this century, this popular image of the Founding has coexisted with another, less heroic portrait etched by scholars since Charles A. Beard published An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution...