Riches, Class, and Power Before the Civil War

by Edward Pessen

Book Overview

Until publication of Riches, Classes, and Power, Alexis de Tocquerville's vision of the United States as a generally egalitarian nation predominated This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0669844594
• ISBN13: 9780669844597
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: D.C. Heath
• Length: 378 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good "nuts-and-bolts" economic history

Riches, Class, and Power Before the Civil War is a solidly researched book which sets out to investigate the long held idea that following the American Revolution, the wealthy of America were largely a self-made class. Pessen investigated the tax records, property records, and wills of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia to determine who the wealthiest individuals in those places were. Once the names of those individuals were established, Pessen explored their familial backgrounds to determine whether or not their fortunes really were self-made or inherited. Pessen discovered that the idea of the American self-made man in the Early Republic is more myth than reality.