JAMES FERGUSON, THE POWER OF THE PURSE 298 (1961) (calling Madison's turn a purely political move, not realistic, but also the point at which Madison turned to state-oriented politics, where before he had been a nationalist), with STANLEY ELKINS & ERIC MCKITRICK, THE AGE OF FEDERALISM 16, 68, 139-45 (1995) (concluding that Madison was sincere in explaining his opposition as coming from being upset at paying the "
stockjobbers" full value when they had paid so little to acquire the debt).
brought the Amsterdam Exchange and Dutch
stockjobbers more London
(30) Their opposition was expressed in constitutional and textual terms as a worry that an implied power to charter the First Bank would destroy "the essential characteristic of the government, as composed of limited and enumerated powers." (31) But underlying these legal arguments was a deeper ideological opposition to high finance, associated with large Northeastern cities--in the opposition's bitter phrases, "speculators & Tories" (32) or
stockjobbers. (33) The suspicion that private bankers could corruptly manipulate public officials was a deeply entrenched aspect of Anglo-American ideology, dating back to the South Sea Bubble of 1720.
But his light touch adulation of the City only continued what the Conservatives began back in 1986 with Mrs Thatcher's "Big Bang", which abolished the distinction between
stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and freed them to pursue a pirate-like operation across the globe.
Far from being political demigods, the Framers were agents of the rich--of the bondholders, speculators,
stockjobbers, bankers, and lawyers.