This case is a vehicle for achieving some or all of the following objectives: (1) Consider the role of a national constitution as a strategic plan for the country, outlining both political and economic means for reaching national goals. The case enables discussion of the economic incentives and constraints created by the Constitution, as well as the relative pros and cons of detailed constitutions as opposed to those consisting of broad principles. (2) Illustrate constitutional change as one kind of civic reaction to an economic crisis. Latent in this case is the famous debate about economic determinism and the extent to which the terms of the new Constitution reflected the framers' self-interest. (3) Illuminate the dynamics of Irving Fisher's theory of the debt-deflation cycle. The desperation of western farmers and their civil unrest highlight the privations imposed by price deflation.