Love and the Status Quo

Eustace equates language to power (or at least position, which is indelible from power) during the 18^th in a variety of ways, not least of all how romantic language was used to further relationship goals and through them societal rank.  Here, carefully chosen language is vital in the minds of British-American Pennsylvanians.  Men like son of Benjamin Franklin used utterly flowery language to describe their affections for those that they pursued as much as those with who they were extremely close.  Their letters and the language of affection (like, love, etc) were meant to either enforce their social standing or try to advance it.  The status quo of the colonies (and youthful states) was maintained by the language of love.  Black and white were distanced even further using the language of affection.  A white man rarely (if ever) used any language more passionate than a cool “liked”.  According to Eustace, this too was an anomaly when an enslaved man was held in high regard by the captain of his ship (Eustace, 114). 

Divisions of status and rank were reinforced in this way, partly as a means for an aristocratic elite to associate themselves with a high society that their Commonwealth was hardly known for.  This could, to some degree, be chalked up to Pennsylvania’s rather mixed demographics and geography.  William Penn’s proclamation for religious freedom combined with the “savage” frontier of western Pennsylvania (my side of the state!) led to an abutting and mixing of social rank and status in terms of location.  Therefore, the elite of Pennsylvania worked to distance themselves from the savagery of their state by overcompensating in their language in order to more closely align themselves with (what they saw as) their European counterparts.  The language of love was therefore used both to attain the love of those to whom it was addressed, but also to further reinforce the social and political status quo.