What was the real motivation of the founding fathers?

Question

Were they really bent on a liberal democracy or did they really want economic freedom more and private property rights more?

Answer 1

I think that this question is not quite posed right. They were used to living in a somewhat democratic system that protected property rights, being English subjects. The fight with England was over the denial of some rights to Americans that other Englishmen had. And upon victory the main idea was to establish here a political system very much like English one, or perhaps one slightly more democratic, but not enormously so. Remember that one of their greatest fears was mob rule, that is, giving political power to the poor (or women or non-whites).

Answer 2

Their primary concern was to not have an intrusive general (federal) government and to realize this in personal, economic, and property rights freedoms.

While there were elements of the democratic function (primarily in the people electing members of the House of Representatives, they desired a Representative Republic.

29 characters to work with...... is basically correct, that is perusing letters and other writings of the Founders is the best place to develop such an understanding. There are a number of sources for such information and one of the best is "The Founder's Constitution." This is a five volume set of the Constitution annotated by Constitutional clause with the letters and other writings of the Founders. It is likely you can find it in the library but the entire set cost only $60 and maybe less through Amazon.

In short, reading it will provide you with what I have offered.

Answer 3

It undoutably varied by person. The ebst way to firgure this out would be to read their writings; anything you could get; letters, published items, journals, etc.