Two Nations, Indivisible: A History of Inequality in America

by Jamie L. Bronstein

Overview

While examining the arguments made in favor of egalitarianism, this book debunks the notion that the United States is now or has ever been a nation offering equal opportunity to all.

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson famously asserted that "all men are created equal." Likewise, social mobility—the idea that any child can grow up to be president—has been key to the myth of what makes America great. Yet the hard truth is that inequality of both opportunity and resulting condition has been a defining feature of America's story. Written by a comparative labor historian, this book combines economic and social history with intellectual history to reveal the major trends of inequality that have been evident in America from Revolutionary times through the present.

The book opens with an introduction to the burgeoning issue of inequality in America. The following chronological chapters describe how inequality was manifest in various periods. Each chapter not only provides a full survey of the secondary literature related to the topic of inequality in the particular time period but also examines prescriptions from thinkers who espoused equality, including Thomas Paine, Thomas Skidmore, Henry George, Jane Addams, Upton Sinclair, and Harry Caudill. By assessing these and other arguments relevant to social change, the work helps readers understand the cases made for and against equality of opportunity and condition throughout U.S. history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798216158134
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	10/17/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	7 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jamie L. Bronstein, PhD, is professor of history at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM.
Jamie L. Bronstein, PhD, is professor of history at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 The American Revolution and Equality 1

Chapter 2 Workingmen, Land, and the Age of Jackson: 1829-1865 17

Chapter 3 Free Tabor and Social Darwinism: 1865-1900 35

Chapter 4 Liberalism in the Age of Monopoly: 1900-1929 57

Chapter 5 Challenge from the Left: 1929-1945 77

Chapter 6 The Great Compression and the War on Poverty: 1945-1979 97

Chapter 7 The Triumph of Neoliberalism: 1979-1999 117

Chapter 8 The New Inequality and the Lessons of the Past: 1999-Present 133

Notes 155

Select Bibliography 197

Index 209