Corruption and Virtue at the Constitutional Convention

Abstract

Advocates of a Lockean interpretation of the American founding have claimed that what is understood as classical or civic republicanism ceased to be an influence in American political thought by 1787. This study tests that assertion by way of a content analysis of Madison's notes of the Constitutional Convention, and focuses on the concepts and words "corruption" and "virtue." The findings presented here suggest that while the delegates to the Convention rarely relied upon or attempted to promote public or individual virtue in drafting the governing document, their fear of corruption with its classical republican symptoms of dependency, cabal, patronage, unwarranted influence, and bribery, did influence the crafting of a number of sections of the Constitution.