Economic Inequality in the Arkansas Territory

Abstract

Economic Inequality in the Arkansas Territory One of the more promising recent developments in American historical scholarship has been an increasing focus on the study of economic inequality in the United States based on detailed distributions of wealth. Jones' analysis of sample estate records for 1774, for example, has provided estimates for the wealth of all colonists on the eve of the American Revolution, and the spin samples of Soltow drawn from the censuses of I850, I860, and 1870 have given us reliable data on inequality for the middle years of the nation. Recently, Williamson and Lindert have attempted to integrate existing data and develop a picture of economic inequality throughout American history. It is their view that modern inequality is similar to that of the late colonial period, but that there have been intervening periods of significant fluctuation, in particular a long-term trend toward greater inequality between the American Revolution and the Civil War.1