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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

Edward Pessen
Edward Pessen*
Affiliation:
Baruch College, Graduate Center, Cuny
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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
Social Science History , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Winter 1982 , pp. 111 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1982 

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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).

References

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