While it's always dangerous to rely on literature to learn about history, I recall the passage in "Pride and Prejudice" where Lady Catherine de Bourgh criticizes Elizabeth Bennett as unsuitable for her nephew, Mr. Darcy. Lizzy points out that she's the "daughter of a gentleman," but Lady Catherine replies to the effect that her father is, but her mother is not a gentlewoman.

I suspect that these distinctions broke down in America due to the widespread populist sentiments that informed a populace that could see rapid upward mobility of the kind that Europeans were totally unaware of. Dickens in his "Letters from America" (or is it "Notes from America"?) in 1842 decries the vulgarity of American servant girls and lowly-bred women who were perfectly unaware or indifferent to the distinctions in dress between their "class" and their "betters." He found it ridiculous to see such women dressing in the finery that in England would have been reserved for the upper class.

I don't know if these random observations will help, but I suggest reading the Dickens book, as well as de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," which goes into detail about customs and social order.

Bill Cross

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