They brought to the support of that instrument "the areas of intercourse and wealth" (Libby), the influence of the commercial towns, the greater planters, the army officers, creditors and property-holders generally, - in short, of interests that had felt the evils of the weak government of the Confederation, - and alsc of some few true nationalists (few, because there was as yet no general national feeling), actuated by political principles of centralization independently of motives of expediency and self-interest.
Behavior is based on self-interest and motivated by who can help children get what they want or who is hindering that process.
Much of Shaftesbury's career, increasingly so as it came near its close, is incapable of defence; but it has escaped most of his critics that his life up to the Restoration, apparently full of inconsistencies, was evidently guided by one leading principle, the determination to uphold the supremacy of parliament, a principle which, however obscured by self-interest, appears also to have underlain his whole political career.
Motives of self-interest may have lurked in them - otherworldly motives of buying salvation for a little price, or worldly motives of achieving riches and acquiring lands.
On the whole, his moral attitude is cynical, and he is inclined to regard self-interest as the best criterion.
