The Decline and Fall of Aristocracy

1
The Decline and Fall of Aristocracy

• The English Oligarchy and American Old South
  Gentry
• 17th-19th Centuries
• R. Walker Garrett
• Senior Capstone
• Dr. Jeremy Lewis

2
Aristocracy

• The elite ruling minority within a society
• Concentration of power, wealth, and social status
• Exclusive privileges and influence protected by
  class unity
• Common beliefs or interests

3
English Aristocracy

• Time period of Aristocratic political superiority
• 1688-1885
• Concentration of power in parliament and the
  monarchs court
• Titled nobles, the landed wealth, and wealthy
  industrialists, merchants, and financiers
• Hierarchy of influence based on social status
• Ancient Lineage, landed wealth, and respectable
  values determined status level
• Gods elect
• Generally ownership of at least 1000 acres
• Degrees of rank with status designation

4
English Aristocratic Power Distributions

• Control of the overwhelming majority of land of
  the British Isles
• Monopoly of power in The House of Lords by the
  peers
• Ability to throw out all but money measures
  produced in the commons
• Majority of landed gentlemen in the House of
  Common
• Control of the judiciary with the gentry in most
  Justice of the Peace positions
• Occupations dominated by the landed classes
• Judiciary
• Church
• Army
• Civil Service

5
Land of the British Isles Held in Estates of
1000 Acres, c.1880Table from The Decline and
Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine
Country Number of Owners Total Acres Owned of total land area owned
England 4,736 12,825,643 56.1
Wales 672 1,490,915 60.78
Ireland 3,745 15,802,737 78.4
Scotland 1,758 17,584,828 92.82
Total 10,911 47,704,123 66.14
6
Movements to Weaken the English Aristocratic
Powers

• Shift of Power from Tory Party to Whigs
• John Wilkes
• Industrial Revolution
• Plutocrats
• Reform Act of 1832
• Larger Electorate, Updating of Voting Districts
• Reform Act of 1867
• Voting rights to the working class
• Reform Act of 1884-1885
• Doubled electorate size and redistributed seats
• Reform Act of 1918
• Universal Adult Suffrage
• Methodism
• Challenge to Anglican Church and its class
  structure

7
Compromise and Concessions The Aristocracy Power
Strategy

• Generations of Power
• Instinct to see inevitable in class development
• Entail, the inheritance of estates by the eldest
  male, ensured concentrated wealth across
  generations
• Industrial Revolution
• Use of Industry to complement traditional land
  based wealth
• Liberal members of Parliament
• Supported and introduced reforms gradually giving
  up privileges
• Extended power to middle class as a conservative
  addition to the electorate
• Reforms proposed with enough to satiate demands
  for change from the common people

8
Southern Aristocracy

• The Old South Aristocracy
• 1775-1865
• Nouveaux riche
• Middle-class or bourgeois origins
• Landed Gentry
• Agrarian dominated economy
• Plantation system
• Slavery
• Country Gentleman Ideal
• Unified through a common culture
• Chivalry
• Pursuit of Leisure

9
Southern Aristocratic Power Distributions

• Planter class domination
• Best land
• Control over local governments
• State Constitutions
• Property requirements to vote
• Upward Mobility
• Small farmers supported the power structure
• Wealth was not tied to one group of families
  consistently
• Education concentration within the elite

10
Factors of the Decline of Southern Aristocratic
Powers

• The Industrial Revolution
• No industry development in South
• Abolitionist movement
• Agrarian economy dependent on slaves
• White Manhood Suffrage in all southern states by
  1850s
• Gentry culture
• Exaggeration of country gentleman ideas
• Lack of initiative in business
• Lazy lifestyle required slavery
• Financial debt

11
Destruction of the Old South

• Secession from the Union
• Interests of the planters
• Civil War
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Plantation system destroyed
• Slavery was the economic engine of the agrarian
  South
• Southern gentry lost the foundation for their
  country gentlemen lifestyle

12
Theories Revealing Causes of the Decline

• Edmund Burke
• Change is necessary, but hold onto the past
  institutions, gradual not revolutionary
• all men have equal rights, but not to equal
  things
• Alexis De Tocqueville
• Equality of Condition
• Old South poor farmers submitting to place in
  social structure
• Max Weber
• Bureaucracy is the enemy of aristocracy
• The rise of modern bureaucracy in England
• The development of career politicians and civil
  servants

13
English and Old South Aristocracies Compared

• Max Webers approaches to Social Analysis
• English Aristocracys methods of survival and Old
  Souths refusal to change and adapt
• Financial Resources
• Old South tied to agrarian lifestyle and slavery
• Lack of modern industry
• Fad of debt
• English adapted to Industrial Age
• Social Position
• Old South pursued an exaggerated imitation of
  English feudal values of chivalry and honor
• Position collapses due to rank in society
  dominated by wealth and class position
• English views of status is a consistent measure
  of social position and keeps exclusiveness part
  of upper strata
• Political Activities
• Old South vehemently opposed influence of the
  North
• Refusal to compromise caused civil war
• English initiative in political compromise bought
  time for the oligarchy