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The Beleaguered Myth of Antebellum Egalitarianism: Cliometrics and Surmise to the Rescue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2016
Extract
In his 1978 essay in this journal, Robert E. Gallman praised but also criticized my work on the “egalitarian myth,” arguing that it had not in fact “dealt a death blow to the ‘egalitarian hypothesis’“ (1978:194). In my response the following year, I tried to show that his criticism was based in large part on a misreading of what I had written, attributing to me “statements I had never made and viewpoints I do not hold.” He thus had created “an elaborate model to refute a point that I had not made” (1979a: 208). Although I argued that his overall criticism was invalid, primarily because it was not based on “germane historical evidence,” I closed by praising the “admirably reasoned spirit that infuses Professor Gallman’s essay,” praise I publicly repeated in the American Historical Review (1979a: 224, 1980b: 1163).
- Type
- Comment and Debate
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Social Science History Association 1982
Footnotes
This concludes the debate which began with Robert E. Gallman’s “Professor Pessen on the ‘Egalitarian Myth’” (vol. 2, no. 2). Edward Pessen’s response, “On a Recent Cliometric Attempt to Resurrect the Myth of Antebellum Egalitarianism” (vol. 3 no. 2), was answered by Professor Gallman’s “The ‘Egalitarian Myth’ Once Again” (vol. 5 no. 2). Professor Pessen has the last say according to the journal’s policy regarding debates (only two statements by each member of the debate).
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