Society in America, Volume 2 (of 2)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~140,000 words · 646 passages
Cite this work
- APAHarriet Martineau. (n.d.). Society in America, Volume 2 (of 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/harriet-martineau/society-in-america-volume-2-of-2
- MLAHarriet Martineau. "Society in America, Volume 2 (of 2)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/harriet-martineau/society-in-america-volume-2-of-2.
- ChicagoHarriet Martineau. Society in America, Volume 2 (of 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/harriet-martineau/society-in-america-volume-2-of-2.
What it is about
The second volume of Harriet Martineau's 1837 study of the United States.
Context and history
Martineau travelled through the United States between 1834 and 1836 and published this in 1837. What makes it remarkable is not the travel narrative but the method: she went with a criterion declared in advance — to compare what the country said of itself in its founding documents with what she found there — and with rules for how to observe, which she published separately. That is why she is counted among the founders of sociology, and often is not listed as one. Her conclusion is hard: the republic that proclaims itself founded on equality holds slaves and keeps women without rights, and the two facts are of one kind. She wrote it when doing so could cost her her safety in the southern states, and it did. She had been deaf since youth and earned her living by writing throughout her adult life.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
myself over the ankles in mud. A few minutes after we had driven on again, on the opposite side of the river, we had to get out to change coaches; after which we proceeded, without accident, though very slowly, till daylight. Then the stage sank down into a deep rut, and the horses struggled in vain. We were informed that we were "mired," and must all get out. I stood for some time to witness what is very pretty for once; but wearisome when it occurs ten times a day. The driver carries an axe, as a part of the stage apparatus. He cuts down a young tree, for a lever, which is introduced under the nave of the sunken wheel; a log serving for a block. The gentleman passengers all help; shouting to the horses, which tug and scramble as vigorously as the gentlemen. We ladies sometimes gave our humble assistance by blowing the driver's horn. Sometimes a cluster of negroes would assemble from a neighbouring plantation; and in extreme cases, they would bring a horse, to add to our team. The rescue from the rut was effected in any time from a quarter of an hour to two hours. This particular 3rd of March, two hours were lost by this first mishap. It was very cold, and I walked on alone, sure of not missing my road in a region where there was no other. When I had proceeded two miles, I stopped and looked around me. I was on a rising ground, with no object whatever visible but the wild, black forest, extending on all sides as far as I could see, and the red road cheerless stagnation and premature decay. With one of the most valuable staples that ever blessed the labours of the husbandman, and swelled the sails of a prosperous and enriching commerce, they would find that our estates are, with a steady and fatal proclivity, depreciating in value, our fields becoming waste, and our cities desolate. With habits of industry and economy which have no example in our former history, they would find the heirs of the largest inheritances generally involved in e