Virtue required individuals to put the community’s interest above their own; capitalism glorified the pursuit of self-interest in the quest for profits. Commonwealth specified that a republic must benefit all the people, not just favored classes. But by granting charters and appropriating money to establish banks, create corporations, dig canals, build railroads, dam streams, and undertake other projects for economic development, state and local governments had favored certain classes at the expense of others.
