America made sure that there would never be a formal nobility, except for the Count of Chocula. And it recognized the equal rights of daughters and widows when it came to inheriting and possessing property. Also, it created a world in which future countesses could rehabilitate their reputations in New York. But the real seismic change was that after the revolution, Americans came to view themselves as equal to each other. And in the context of the 18th century, that was pretty radical. Ordinary Americans came to believe that no one in a basic, down-to-earth, and day-in-and-day-out manner was really better than anyone else. That was equality as no other nation had ever quite had it.