S. political culture has been influenced by the Constitution and Federalism, it is imperative to understand how the importance and meaning behind these aspects motivated our Forefathers and how they have evolved to motivate current society. .
There has been much debate over how much emphasis on economic interests was behind the Constitution. Some critics feel that framers who were wealthy placed too much personal influence into their decision-making and only made decisions that would benefit themselves. Others argued this sentiment claiming that many Framers" were not wealthy and owed public debt, thus making decisions solely in the nations best interest. It was later proven that decisions made by the Framers of the Constitution were made not for their own personal financial gain, but for their states" personal gain. The main focus of the constituents of the Constitutional Convention was to limit the power of the national government and have the state governments retain most of the decision-making abilities. One of the biggest factors behind this initiative was slave owning. Delegates who did not even own slaves voted to keep this issue out of the national governments hands. .
In contemporary society, the main economic interests vary greatly than those of the Constitutional era. The Framers of the Constitution were more concerned with equal representation than they were about economic equality. Today, most people are more accepting of economic inequality than they are concerned with political equality. Americans believe in "equality of opportunity", but not in "equality of results" meaning that the general consensus of American citizens feel that everyone should have an equal opportunity to progress, but not everyone deserves to be wealthy. .
The main focus behind the economic issue facing today's society is the debate over affirmative action. Affirmative action was not something the Framers of the Constitution had to deal with; it wasn't even something they could fathom.