Part 3, Chapter 17 Summary and Analysis

The half-century following the Revolution sees people flying apart as leaders tell them each is his own master in all respects. Murder, suicide and mobbing are commonplace. Men, women and even children consume hard liquor at a rate greater than anywhere in Europe. It's cheaper to distill grain than to ship it to market. By 1800, rowdiness, strikes and racial and ethnic conflict grow among unconnected and anonymous lowly people filled with class resentment. Urban society seems heterogeneous, insatiable for animal gratification, weak and deprave. New York City hires watchmen at double the rate the population is growing, and there are calls for creating a professional police force. People are so competitive, Elkanah Watson introduces the county fair to release farmers' envy and competitiveness, knowing the gentry's "practical" scientific societies will not work. Americans want independence, first from Britain, then...