The parties and pricey jewels were not merely offensive, they also seemed to indicate that something was terribly wrong with America. With workers and western farmers sliding into destitution while the Four Hundred dressed their coachmen in suits with $300 buttons, many Americans began to worry that the nation had gone badly astray. Surely, the idea behind a republican government was that it would treat everyone in society evenly. The burgeoning wealth among the upper classes suggested that the cozy friendship between business and government had tilted the scale in favor of businessmen.
