Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877: Lifestyles, Social Trends, and Fashion Research Article from American Eras

This Study Guide consists of approximately 69 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877.

Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877: Lifestyles, Social Trends, and Fashion Research Article from American Eras

This Study Guide consists of approximately 69 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877.
This section contains 1,888 words
(approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877: Lifestyles, Social Trends, and Fashion Encyclopedia Article

Class Distinctions.

One of the first qualities European visitors to antebellum America noticed was the natives' fierce belief in democracy and equality. Another was that most Americans were constantly on the move: the English writer Harriet Martineau commented that asking the average American about the state of his wellbeing was likely to produce the answer "moving, Sir." It is true that, by comparison to Europe, America was a relatively egalitarian society: there were no aristocratic titles, and the idea of the "self-made man" was a cherished one. Everyone, it was widely held, could achieve prosperity with the application of sufficient effort and "Yankee shrewdness." The American public was enchanted with Horatio Alger's rags-to-riches stories, which were published throughout the period. But the truth is a bit more complex. By the eve of the Civil War inequalities in wealth had become pronounced in American...

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This section contains 1,888 words
(approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877: Lifestyles, Social Trends, and Fashion Encyclopedia Article
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