Final answer:
The Constitution's framers balanced self-interests with public interest, ideology, and constituent opinions. Republicans and Federalists had divergent views on how much self-interest influenced governance, but all agreed on limiting the chances of factional dominance and ensuring diverse representation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The creation of the Constitution involved diverse interests, including self-interested motives among its framers. While some framers may have had their own class interests to protect, this was balanced by ideological beliefs, opinions of constituents, and what they viewed as the public interest. For instance, Republicans like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were concerned about preserving the rights of the majority over minority interests, fearing a return to monarchy, and supported a strict construction of the Constitution to ensure a limited central government. On the other hand, the Federalists, like Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, thought stabilizing the nation through supporting the self-interests of the wealthy would benefit everyone. However, Madison argued in Federalist No. 10 that a large republic would make it difficult for factions to dominate and assured that representatives would not be biased in favor of their own self-interests. Lastly, the differing views on ratification between urban and rural Americans reflect that the economic impacts of the Constitution were a significant factor.