Absolutely. I typically refer folks to The Founders' Constitution, a work of the University of Chicago Press and the Liberty Fund which has an easy-to-understand, browsable list of primary source documents for each portion of the constitution.

The idea of profiting from public office was addressed in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution, otherwise known as the Emoluments Clause:

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."

One of the base documents from which the American founders worked in creating the Constitution was William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, which was almost ubiquitous on lawyers' shelves at the time. The first edition was published in 1765-1769 and was widespread at the time of the American Revolution.

Blackstone, writing from the position of a strong monarchy, said the acquisition of titles and ambition was a good thing in an office-holder ─ at least in a monarchy. "And emulation, or virtuous ambition, is a spring of action which, however dangerous or invidious in a mere republic or under a despotic sway, will certainly be attended with good effects under a free monarchy; where, without destroying it's existence, it's excesses may be continually restrained by that superior power, from which all honour is derived."

Note my emphasis on a particular portion of Blackstone's writing with regard to ambition in a republic.

Blackstone had a more rosy view of English society than did some of his contemporaries. The radical Whig historian Catherine Macaulay wrote George Washington in 1790, according to Gordon Wood's Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic 1789-1815. In that letter, he worried that Americans would "copy all the excess" of England with regard to public office. If that were to happen, "an inattention to public interest will prevail, and nothing be pursued but private gratification and emolument."

James Madison believed such a system had already come to dominate the American government by 1792. He ascribed to a more republican form of government and believed that the Federalists "are more partial to the opulent than to the other classes of society; and having debauched themselves into a persuasion that mankind are incapable of governing themselves, it follows with them, of course, that government can be carried on only by the pageantry of rank, the influence of money and emoluments and the terror of military force."

This was the division among the founders. The Federalists, including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, believed that office-holders should be the nation's elite, people who had already made their riches and were independently wealthy. That way, the thought went, they wouldn't have to worry about supporting themselves in office, the government wouldn't have to pay very much in the way of salary, and their financial independence would grant them an Olympian-like neutrality when it came to judging issues.

The Democratic-Republicans, including Madison, took the opposite view. They believed that in order to represent the people, elected officials had to be truly representative, coming from all classes and walks of life. These republicans had a distaste for large government, which they saw as emblematic of monarchy, and they disliked large expenses on the military. As Madison wrote in 1795, wartime meant "the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people."

Both Federalists and Democratic-Republicans believed people should not profit from public office, but they generally attacked it from different sides. The Federalists took the view that those in office should have no need for additional money. The Democratic-Republicans believed government should be kept weak so as to not entice corruption and manipulation of the system.