One of the most stubborn myths of American history is the idea that the frontier promoted equality of material condition. This national folk legend is, unhappily, ver much mistaken. With some exceptions, landed wealth was always highly concentrated throughout the southern highlands, as it would be in the lower Mississippi Valley, Texas and the far southwest. Inequality was greater in the backcountry and the southern highlands than in any other rural region of the United States.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727—88)
Oil on canvas; 127.5 x 107 cm. National Trust, Knole, Kent, England.
Oil on canvas; Height: 244 cm (96.1 in). Width: 152.4 cm (60 in). Kenwood House, English Heritage; London, England.
Oil on canvas, feigned oval; 29 7/8 in. x 24 7/8 in. (760 mm x 631 mm). National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
Oil on canvas; 238.8 × 158.7 cm (94 × 62.5 in). Royal Collection Trust, Buckingham Palace, London, England.
Oil on canvas; 71 × 40 cm (28 × 15.7 in). Private collection ???
Admiral Lord George Brydges Rodney (1719—92)
Oil on canvas; 29 1/2 in. x 24 1/2 in. (749 mm x 622 mm). National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
Stipple and line engraving; paper size with decorative border: 11 1/8 in. x 7 5/8 in.
Oil on canvas; 142 x 119 cm. City of London Corporation, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, England.
Albion′s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989)