# Upper ten thousand > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Upper_ten_thousand > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Upper_ten_thousand.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_ten_thousand > Source revision: 1342493672 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 19th-century phrase for the wealthiest 10,000 residents of New York City A reprint of the paragraph in which [Nathaniel Parker Willis](/source/Nathaniel_Parker_Willis) coined the term, 1845 **Upper ten thousand**, or simply, *The Upper Ten*, is a 19th-century phrase referring to the wealthiest 10,000 residents of [New York City](/source/New_York_City). The phrase was coined in 1844 by American poet and author [Nathaniel Parker Willis](/source/Nathaniel_Parker_Willis).[1] Soon, the term came to be used to describe the upper circles not only of New York, but also those of other major cities.[2] ## Usages In 1852, [Charles Astor Bristed](/source/Charles_Astor_Bristed) published a collection of sketches on New York society entitled "The Upper Ten Thousand" in *[Fraser Magazine](/source/Fraser's_Magazine)*. In 1854, [George Lippard](/source/George_Lippard) serialized his book *New York: Its Upper Ten and Lower Million*. The phrase entered British fiction in *[The Adventures of Philip](/source/The_Adventures_of_Philip)* (1861–62) by [William Thackeray](/source/William_Makepeace_Thackeray), whose eponymous hero contributed weekly to a fashionable New York journal entitled *The Gazette of the Upper Ten Thousand*.[3] The general acceptance of the term seems to be attested[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] by its use in the title of Edward Abbott's 1864 cookery book, *[The English and Australian Cookery Book: Cookery for the Many as Well as the "Upper Ten Thousand"](/source/The_English_and_Australian_Cookery_Book)*. Extending the term beyond the inhabitants of a city to those of a country as a whole, two 1875 books entitled *The Upper Ten Thousand* set out to define the upper echelons of British society. Both Adam Bissett Thom (son of [Adam Thom](/source/Adam_Thom)) and [Kelly's Directory](/source/Kelly's_Directory) listed members of [the aristocracy](/source/British_nobility), [the gentry](/source/Gentry), officers in the Army and Navy, members of Parliament, colonial administrators, and clergy of the [established church](/source/State_religion). The usage of this term was a response to the broadening of the British [ruling class](/source/Ruling_class) which had been caused by the [Industrial Revolution](/source/Industrial_Revolution).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] Most of the people listed in *Kelly's Handbook to the Upper Ten Thousand* were among the 30,000 descendants of [Edward III, King of England](/source/Edward_III%2C_King_of_England), tabulated in the [Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval](/source/Marquis_of_Ruvigny_and_Raineval)'s *Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal*.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] Most also appeared in [Walford's *County Families*](/source/Walford's_County_Families) and Burke's *[Landed Gentry](/source/Landed_gentry#Burke's_Landed_Gentry)*.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler) referred to [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt) as being in the Upper Ten Thousand in his 1941 speech [declaring war against the United States](/source/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States), while juxtaposing himself as "[sharing his] fate with millions of others."[4] ## See also - [The Four Hundred (Gilded Age)](/source/The_Four_Hundred_(Gilded_Age)) - [Upper class](/source/Upper_class) - [We are the 99%](/source/We_are_the_99%25) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Allen, Irving Lewis. *The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech*. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993: 222. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-507591-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-507591-9) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Bartlett, John Russell (1859), *Dictionary of Americanisms, 2nd ed. enlarged*, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 494 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Tillotson, Geoffrey (1995). *William Thackeray: The Critical Heritage*. New York: Routledge. p. 72. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hitler, Adolf. [*Adolf Hitler's Declaration of War against the United States*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_Declaration_of_War_against_the_United_States). ## External links - [Photographs and anecdotes of typical Upper Ten Thousand Victorians and Edwardians](http://webpages.charter.net/ghal/album.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161011142029/http://webpages.charter.net/ghal/album.htm) 2016-10-11 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) - [Adam Bisset Thom](/source/Adam_Thom), *[The Upper Ten Thousand](https://archive.org/details/uppertenthousan00thomgoog)* (1875) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Upper ten thousand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_ten_thousand) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_ten_thousand?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.