An Economic Interpretation of Rhode Island’s 1788 Referendum on the Constitution

In their 1788 popular referendum, Rhode Island voters overwhelmingly rejected ratification of the Federal Constitution: 92 percent against and 8 percent for adoption. The town-by-town voter lists, correlated with tax and estate records, show that yea voters were significantly wealthier than “nay” voters. Available data also indicates that yea wealth was concentrated in personal estate rather than real estate. Both these findings support Charles Beard\u27s original economic interpretation of the Constitution. Our detailed data provides new evidence about town-level voters, supplementing the usual data Beard’s supporters and critics have used from state ratifying conventions and the Philadelphia constitutional convention. We trace the outlines of the scholarly debate, provide political and economic context for the Rhode Island referendum, report on our initial findings, and suggest further avenues of research and analysis