The Early American Middle Class

Using the diary of Samuel Seabury, this article argues that the middle class in the early republic defined itself as the group that possessed middle-class values: a diligent work ethic, a passion for education, and a devotion to genteel self-restraint. Contemporary Americans believed that these values were more important than wealth or power in determining class status. Because anyone could believe he or she was a hard worker, loved education, and was genteel, the category "middle class" was far less restrictive than it might seem, especially in comparison to the increasingly codified categories of race and gender. The triumph of the American middle class was part of a transnational revolt against traditional authority that made a more egalitarian world possible.