The American and British Debate Over Equality, 1776-1920

Book excerpt: The American and British Debate Over Equality, 1776–1920 examines comparisons between American ideals of a classless society and the contrasting British class system, which accepted the existence of inequalities. When the United States declared political independence in 1776, they also announced repudiation of social institutions based on inequality, opting instead for (an ill-defined) equality. British travelers to the United States after 1776 and up to 1920 continuously wrote about how equality was faring in the United States and compared it to the operation of inequality in England, Scotland, and Ireland. They laid bare the actual outcomes of a system of equality versus one of inequality; this was no theoretical, intellectual exercise but instead constituted a recording of actual human practices. By the end of the nineteenth century, the defects of a system of inequality became clear in manners, social interchanges between income classes, general education levels, religious convictions, and the general energy of a people. The exploration of these nineteenth-century comparisons has great relevance for today's persistent debates about social inequities and their solutions.