The Constitution. . . illustrates the complexity of the American system: that it serves the interests of a wealthy elite, but also does enough for small property owners, for middle-income mechanics and farmers, to build a broad base of support. The slightly prosperous people who make up this base of support are buffers against the blacks, the Indians, the very poor whites. They enable the elite to keep control with a minimum of coercion, a maximum of law--all made palatable by the fanfare of patriotism and unity.

People in the anti-war movement used it. He had been scheduled to speak at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for an event titled "A Collection of Ideas. in 1951.

Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. Howard Zinn (August 24 1922 – January 27 2010) was an American academic historian author playwright and social activist. He wrote extensively about the civil rights and anti-war movements as well as of the labor history of the United States.