Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer
Do you mean New Yorks patroons or simply the local oligarchs that fought all democratic tendencies in the early republic. In neither case were they an Aristocratic order with birthright privileges. They had power, and an undemocratic form of power too, but unlike most European nations, the power never had true legitimacy under law.
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I mean America had authentic landed gentry in residence during the colonial period, patroons included. Few were left after the war but their class and social stratum did not immediately evaporate, so there was a base of aristos from which the Burgeoisie would emerge. Washington represents this as a man of both hereditary and married wealth and status who proceeded to capitalize on disruptive new technologies like crop rotation and commercial real estate.