Historiography of The United States - Beardian School

Beardian School

The Beardians were led by Charles A. Beard, who wrote a book called An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, and his wife Mary Ritter Beard. Whereas Turnerians tended to believe in geographic determinism, Beardians tended to believe in economic determinism, seeing events as the product of the clash of economic forces.

Charles A. Beard (1874–1948) published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science. His works included radical re-evaluation of the founding fathers of the United States, who he believed were motivated more by economics than by philosophical principles. Beard's most influential book, written with his wife Mary Beard, was the wide-ranging and bestselling The Rise of American Civilization (1927), which had a major influence on American historians.

Beard was famous as a political liberal, but he strenuously opposed American entry into World War II, for which he blamed Franklin D. Roosevelt more than Japan or Germany. This stance destroyed his career, as his fellow scholars repudiated his foreign policy and dropped his materialistic model of class conflict. Richard Hofstadter concluded in 1968: "Today Beard's reputation stands like an imposing ruin in the landscape of American historiography. What was once the grandest house in the province is now a ravaged survival."