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Top-tier article. Felt like I was reading a more thorough explanation of American expansionism in the 1800's than what I got out of my old US History textbook.
by Ancalagon 3y ago
Top-tier article. Felt like I was reading a more thorough explanation of American expansionism in the 1800's than what I got out of my old US History textbook.
- sandworm101 3y agoOld US history textbooks tend to be problematic, skipping much and occasionally repeating myth as fact.
- WalterBright 3y ago> occasionally repeating myth as fact. I'd be very surprised if that didn't continue to be true. I saw one that asserted that the American middle class didn't emerge until the 1930s. (The middle class was well established by the time of the American Revolution.)
- anovikov 3y agoDefinition of what constitutes a middle class is so vague that it's birthtime could be placed anywhere in the timeline just as well. I don't understand what a middle class is. Someone is either able to live off their property/investment then they are rich, or not then they are poor. Is the middle class someone who still can't, but has a reasonable chance to get there within their lifetime? Only viable definition i can think of.
- WalterBright 3y agoA simple answer is people who own middle class homes. Shopkeepers, farmers, etc., are all middle class. America was full of them before 1776.
- sophacles 3y agoYes, but what about a non-tautological definition - "The middle class is the people who own middle class homes" raises the question "What's a middle class home?". The answer of course is "A middle class home is the type of home typically owned by middle class people". It gets harder to define something with an answer more explanatory than "that thing is that thing".
- anovikov 3y agoThis, plus obsession with owning a home is usually a sign of poverty.
- WalterBright 3y agoDefine it as you please. You can see plenty of them in painting from before the Civil War and photographs afterwards.