Who was a "gentleman" in USA in the times of Tom Sawyer?
score:3
Difficult question, and I doubt there is an objective answer. Tom Au's answer is correct, but I believe it is.... perhaps incomplete... "Gentleman" was an important cultural concept for Americans of the period, difficult to define, but very much present in social and political affairs.
I believe Gordon Wood in Revolutionary Americans characterized "Gentleman" as someone who was more independent than a tradesman. He provided the example that Benjamin Franklin sold his business(es) before entering politics. (I am paraphrasing an entire chapter of a book; this is not a direct quote)
Constitutionally, there are no gentle men or women in America. That said, much of the cultural context of the Constitutional convention was arranged around removing political power from tradesmen, and the laboring classes. America rejected the English class based society, but that was a rejection of class from birth, in favor of class based on outcome. (If I recall, this was one of the major themes of McCullogh's biography of Adams).
There was a general recognition that people who were dependent on others for their livelihood were not truly independent. Laborers, and tradesmen (historically there was a third category, but it escapes my mind) were dependent on others for their livelihood. Their opinions must never diverge too far from their customers and patrons.
Large landowners were truly independent. They did not rely on anyone, so they could be free to think deeply and to argue their opinions without fear of reprisal. (Any reading of American history will reveal that reprisal was a major force... Why was Madison not a Senator? Burr vs Hamilton? etc.)
Although America had renounced an inherited aristocracy, they still had a keen appreciation for honor. Hamilton's duel with Burr was over honor. Washington nearly refused to participate in the Constitutional Convention because he had pledged to retire from public life and going back on his word would diminish his honor. Jackson fought duels. Once you start looking, it is easy to develop additional examples. A gentleman had to behave as though he valued his honor and his reputation as a gentleman. (and only someone who was financially self-actualized could actually do that; tradesmen were perceived as unable to challenge those on whom their livelihood depended).
A Gentleman in a European country was an artifact of birth. In the US, Gentle was not a status granted by birth, but by some combination of self-actualization, wealth, education, reputation, and other factors. Lawyers considered themselves gentlemen (esquires) - likewise other prosperous professionals (who could, in theory, ignore the hostile opinions of others.)
I think this interpretation of "gentle" is more in line with the use of the term "gentleman" in Tom Sawyer - the couple of critical reviews I consulted point out that the irony is that almost all the men in Sawyer are definitely not gentlemen and would not have been treated as such by their neighbors.
Bit of an abstraction with more indirect references than I prefer in a good answer, but I think it is a useful complement to Mr. Au's.
Upvote:7
In the 19th century U.S., there were basically two types of "gentlemen."
The first was the landed gentry. Obvious enough, the idea came from England and Europe generally. This may have represented 1% of the population.
The second type was "professional" men; doctor, lawyer, scientist, all with university degrees. These were expensive in terms of money and "time spent" that could have been used to earn money. Perhaps 2% of the population had such a degree., like Judge Thatcher in Tom Sawyer.
Basically, we're talking about 3% of the population; 5% tops. Apart from the fact that e.g. a successful gold miner in California or oil driller in Texas might be considered a gentleman "locally" (but not elsewhere until the second generation, because it was "new" money), the definition didn't vary much from region to region, but the mix did. For instance, there were more professional men in New England, and a larger proportion of landowners in the South.
So one would become a gentlemen by acquiring either a university degree and a profession, or land. "Once a gentleman, always a gentlemen," (that is professional or landowner) so this status was hard to lose, except by the next generation, or by a nouveaux riche (it was possible to lose all your gold, but not all your land).
Source: Generations, by William Strauss and Neil Howe.
More post
- 📝 What did Alexander Hamilton write about Aaron Burr's daughter?
- 📝 What benefits were there to the USA of developing both Uranium and Plutonium bombs in World War 2?
- 📝 How long would it take a Victorian to travel from central Germany to the UK?
- 📝 Is there art or written evidence of crescent shaped arrows being used for bird-hunting in Medieval Europe?
- 📝 When was the first recorded example of a race competition in human history?
- 📝 Were there records kept of French nobility before the invasion of England in 1066?
- 📝 Why was gold so popular and valuable back when it did not have many real world uses?
- 📝 Did the Ancient Egyptians understand the importance of the brain?
- 📝 Was there any country/form of goverment that sustained itself with diverse population?
- 📝 Umar ibn Khattab and Omar as a Western given name
- 📝 Were British officers able to return home after the American Revolution?
- 📝 What was 250,000 rubles worth in 1918?
- 📝 What made Stalingrad a turning point in the second world war?
- 📝 Were smoke signal used to trigger a company-scale infantry advance by the US during WWII?
- 📝 Were there hippies in the USA in 1930?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Ottoman emperor Murat IV and his mother Kosem Sultan?
- 📝 Did Harry Dexter White obstruct a proposed $200 million loan to Nationalist China in 1943 as a U.S. Treasury department official?
- 📝 What was at the start of Early Roman codices?
- 📝 In the Bakumatsu period, was there any way to identify which clan a person belonged to?
- 📝 What was the population of the Roman Empire?
- 📝 How would ancient Sumerian astronomers predict length of the next lunar month?
- 📝 Was Hagia Sophia built over a pagan temple?
- 📝 What was special in interwar Austria-Hungary?
- 📝 Status of merchants in feudal Europe
- 📝 Is there any evidence of heterosexual men being sexually attracted to women breasts pre-Victorian history?
- 📝 Why is Britain the only country called "perfidious"?
- 📝 Moving day in Paris, France in the 19th century
- 📝 What did "opening day" mean in the 18th century?
- 📝 How did China become so **populous**?
- 📝 How would Chess have been played in England in 1450-1600?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who was a "gentleman" in USA in the times of Tom Sawyer?
- 📝 How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
- 📝 Who believed the earth was flat?
- 📝 Who was the last leader of a country to call himself a dictator, or the last regime that called itself a dictatorship?
- 📝 Who was the first female ruler to be given the suffix, "the great"?
- 📝 Was there a King of England, or an heir to the throne, in 1831 who idolized Michael Faraday?
- 📝 Was Japan known to be a potential threat to the USA in the 10 year period prior to 1941
- 📝 Who governed while Alexander the Great was away conquering Asia?
- 📝 Was there a priest on the Titanic who stayed on the ship giving confession to as many as he could?
- 📝 Who was the longest lived European monarch of the middle ages?
- 📝 Who was the most successful German spy against Great Britain in WWII, from the contemporary German perspective?
- 📝 Who was responsible for the partition of India?
- 📝 Who was the last European king to actively engage in combat?
- 📝 Who was the first woman ruler?
- 📝 Who was the last US president who did not start a war?
- 📝 Was there ever any doubt which side the USA would join?
- 📝 How was the USA able to win naval battles in the Pacific?
- 📝 Who was the English Knight Templar holding command in the Mongol Army?
- 📝 How wide-spread was antisemitism in the USA during WWII?
- 📝 Besides Mexico, who was considered as a potential ally of the Central Powers?
- 📝 Who was the first head of government to support same-sex marriage?
- 📝 Who was the last English king whose first language was French?
- 📝 Who was the last person "Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered" under British jurisdiction?
- 📝 Who was the richest person in the world at the start and end of WW2?
- 📝 Who was Richard of York at the Battle of Grunwald?
- 📝 Who was the first military force to use teppo (guns) in mass battles during the Sengoku-jidai?
- 📝 After the USS Reuben James was sunk (1941 Oct 31) by Germany, why didn't the USA join the war?
- 📝 Was Ford the only person who became a US president without winning an election?
- 📝 Was it worthwhile for Britain to side with the USA in the Canada-Alaska border dispute?
- 📝 Who was the oldest woman that we know of to give birth in the Medieval Europe?