In his essay Framing the Constitution, historian Charles A. Beard described the Constitutional Convention as follows:
It was a truly remarkable assembly of men that gathered in Philadelphia on May 17, 1787, to undertake the work of reconstructing the American system of government. .. . The makers of the Constitution represented the solid, conservative, commercial and financial interests of the country. .. . [T]he members of that assembly were not seeking to realize any fine notions about democracy and equality, but were striving with all the resources of political wisdom at their command to set up a system of government that would be stable and efficient, safeguarded on the one hand against the possibilities of despotism and on the other against the onslaught of majorities.
Madison doubtless summed up in a brief sentence the general opinion of the convention when he said that to secure private rights against minority factions, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and form of popular government, was the great object to which their inquiries had been directed. They were anxious above everything else to safeguard the rights of private property against any leveling tendencies on the part of the propertyless masses.