Themes in American History

New York state was one of the most populated states pre-Constitution, which is why she had such an influence in the development of America. Since the days of Hamilton, New York was seen as a symbol of capitalism and the “American dream” through a vibrant economy. Hamilton was an inspirational lawyer with the mind of a true businessman. Wall Street was established when President George Washington was inaugurated. The path of NYC seemed to be one of entreprenural, investing, and trading. With this came manufacturing and small sweatshops (nothing like the high rises we see today). I think it was part of New Yorkers destiny to “keep up with the Jones’” because already by 1845, the upper 4% of owned 49% of the cities wealth (Chudacoff, pg. 48). This monetary difference caused the beginnings of the division between the upper and lower classes and the establishment of a middle class. “Housed in mansion, transported in private carriages, clothed in the finest fabrics, fed the choicest delicacies, waited on by servants…the wealthiest residents could remove themselves from contact with the new urban masses (pg. 48). This lifestyle and urbanization contrasted greatly with those cities Out West mainly because of geography and also because of the identity of the settlers.

“Many an optimistic urban speculator from the East came West holding a deed only to find his property located in a mosquito invested swamp (Chudacoff, 42). This explains how the successes of the few still inspired risk takers to make it big in a new and foreign city with lots of rising opportunity. Like New York, the wealth individuals had affected their style of living. And in cities Out West money paid for property and land improvements (Chudacoff, 43). This is an example of a privatized system that had no issue providing special treatments for the people that could afford, while in other cities, like New York, local governments paid for water supplies, firefighting equipment, canals and turnpikes. The beginning of Westward expansion was after the War of 1812 and the construction of an intercontinental railroad. New York and the original thirteen colonies already had an economic advantage, so the Western Territories had to catch up quickly in population and wealth. Geographically, the West had all of these great rivers and waterways that would be of value to them with the introduction of steamships.

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Mobile and New York City were two remarkable cities during the 19th century. In the north New York dominated the trading scene as one of the most popular and business driven ports along the East Coast. While in the south New York City’s “younger brother” Mobile, Alabama was one of the largest international seaports on the Gulf Coast.

They both had some key attributes that made them similar. They both started out as cities that prospered because of their geographical location. New York City prospered because it was easily accessible from the Atlantic ocean. Which made it easy to commute back and forth to Europe. While Mobile was situated on a prime spot near the Gulf of Mexico, making is easily accessible by boats coming from Atlantic Ocean. This also made it easy to exchange goods and slaves with the West Indies and Africa.

Like any two brothers New York City and Mobile had their disagreements on certain issues. For example, when it came to slavery and African Americans New York City and Mobile had differing views. While NYC decided to start gradually freeing slaves in 1799, Mobile did not decide to free its slaves until another 20 years later in 1819. This was mainly because Mobile was a city that relied on slaves to pick cotton, which was the city’s main export. While in NYC there was more of a demand for skilled labor to work in factories.

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Until the 1850’s many American cities were called “walking cities”. Boston and New York were called “walking cities” because of its size.  Those cities extended about 2 miles from the city’s core. A regular person could walk 2 miles in 30 minutes and that’s why New York and Boston were called walking cities. People in those cities walked to work, shops and schools. Walking was the most common mode of transportation back then. (  Chudacoff, pg. 57-58)

One difference between New York and Boston was their number of people per acre. New York had almost double population than Boston by 1850. In New York there were 135.6 persons per acre and in Boston 82.7 persons per acre. People from all over the world were coming to New Nation trying to find a better job or living. New York draw in much more people than Boston did. Over the time density of people was much higher in New York than in Boston and more families or single people occupied a single apartment or house. (Chudacoff, pg. 59)

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One similarity about New York and New Orleans that existed between 1800 and 1865 was the conflict between new immigrants and native-born residents together with the foreign-born expansion in the population. As a result, “by the 1850’s, more than half the residents of Boston and New York City were foreign born.” (Chudacoff 74) According to Chudacoff these new comers where Europeans:  “Major populations of Irish immigrants could be identified in New York, Boston and Philadelphia…”(74) This new group of immigrants added their culture and customs in these cities. Chudacoff states these new immigrants “brought their cultural traditions of work and leisure, spirituality and sociability, which often came into conflict with those of native-born residents.”(74)  One example of these traditions was their drinking and the Catholic religion. Similarly, in New Orleans  “by 1860, 40 percent of New Orleans population was foreign born.” (Chudacoff 74) The immigrants in New Orleans, French and Spanish brought with them their traditions of carnival, “…with maskers, Harlequins, and Punchinchellos parading the streets with guitars, violins and other instruments in the days before lent.”(Chudacoff 74) As a result, this caused the hatred of the native-born residents. According to Chudacoff: “By the 1830s and 1840’s, New Orleans revelers were throwing flour and pieces of brick as well as candies and cake and apples and oranges to people along the parade route..”  Referring Mardi Gras as a “vulgar and tasteless” celebration (74) To the contrary, one difference between these cities was that New York was a Protestant city while New Orleans was Catholic. “An early wave of Irish immigrants, fleeing British persecution at the end of the 1700s, landed in New Orleans and became well integrated into the economy and social life of the city. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebration was held in 1809. Irish social and benevolent organizations were formed, and Irish theater thrived.  (neworleansonline).  On the other hand, New York didn’t see the Irish population in that way:  “native –born enthusiasm for temperance translated into passionate anti-Catholicism, sharply splitting the working classes along ethnic lines and turning neighborhoods into battlegrounds.” (Chudacoff 75)

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In the 1800s, the cities located nearby river and ocean were growing rapidly. Cincinnati in Ohio state and New York City were also the cities that were growing economically at the time period. Because of the Ohio River, there were lots of business opportunities for the residents such as hotels and shops in Cincinnati (Chudacoff, 5th ed., pg. 65). New York City had grown as one of the bigest port in the United States by trading with other countries. The similarities between these cities were that the cities were labeled as “the walking city” because of its size and major mode of conveyance; the cities rarely extended beyond two miles from the city center (Chudacoff, 5th ed., pg.66). The population of the two cities grew fast also, however there was difference between them. The Irish started to immigrate in New York mainly, however, in Cincinnati, the main immigrants at the time period was the German (Ohio History Central, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=681).

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The evolution of transportation allowed for explosive growth in immigration and the sizes of Americas cities. In New York City the increase in immigrants from Europe caused cities to overcrowd. This forced the development of public ferry lines. Before the public ferry system was established, transportation between NYC, its boroughs and the main land territory bordering the Hudson river, was possible only because of private, local shipowners that had to be hired to make the trip. This private ferrying system prevented the expansion of the population, as its limited capacity and its prices effectively made it impossible for the lower classes to travel. With  public transportation becoming available in early and mid 19th century, the immigrant population were given a way to settle in different parts of the land.

Transportation also allowed the immigrants arriving in New York City to expand across the country into places such as San Francisco, California. The only way European immigrant could get to California and other far off American land was by ship, that had to travel around south America then north to California, or by land, which was a quite long  journey through hostile Indian territory and the harsh  American landscape. With the creation of the train and its connection with the east coast, the west was opened to settlement by immigrants. Since the major stations for trains were cities and, compared to NYC, were small in size, arriving immigrants tended to stay in the cities as overcrowding was not as established as in NYC. That will not always be the case as those same cities, such as San Francisco would eventually outgrow its limit to house all the people arriving and the growth of its native population, causing an opening up of land outside cities in California to settlement by new immigrants and the native population tired of city life.

A main difference between NYC and San Francisco’s  increase in immigration is the difference in the nationalities of the immigrants. In NYC the majority of its immigrants were made up of Europeans,specifically Irish ,Germans and Italians.This is not to say that these nationalities did not find their way to Californians cities, but they did stick to the north eastern region of America. The western part of America’s immigrants were made up of people from Spain and other Spanish groups,such as Mexicans. This is due ,in major part, to the fact that San Francisco was once a part of the Spanish empire and its language being Spanish.

Ferry Building 1889, foot of Market Street Photo: Greg Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA

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Civil War is a war between northern and southern states to fight for slavery abolishment.  Besides that, the conflict sparked social and economic conflicts were existed among the states long before the war. Both New York City and St. Louis had profound effects from the war.  One of the bloodiest urban riots took place in July 1863, an official estimated of 1,000 deaths from the riot erupted in New York City. There were so many reasons for the riot, such as labor unrest, class and ethnic tensions and growing violence of street gangs. But the major reason was the race riot, which involved attacks on African Americans by wealthy whites. (Chudacoff, pg80, 6^th Ed.) Compare with the social conflict on New York City, the war reshaped the commercial patterns on western cities, such as St. Louis. St. Louis was one of the nation’s fastest growing cities in the 1850s. It is well known for its river transportation around and beyond the upper Mississippi River valley.  When the hostilities broke out, the Union army closed the lower Mississippi River to commercial traffic and imposed strict surveillance over all goods shipped out of St. Louis. The Civil War turned St. Louis’s geographic advantage into a liability. (Chudacoff, pg81, 6^th Ed.)

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By early 1800s, after the revolution, large number of slaves acquired freedom. Most of them moved into the cities such as New York and Philadelphia.  There are two main reasons why many ex-slaves left for major cities. First of all, there are several job opportunities so that they can earn their own money for living. Second, at that time, ex-slaves get a chance to get married and live with their families. Moreover, free African Americans could establish schools, churches, benevolent organizations and so forth (Chudacoff pg.60).

Free African American

However, compare to philadelphia, more than twice number of freed African American in New York City are skilled workers. It is because white New York craftsman used to rely on slave worker during 18th century. The other main reason is many cities’ mulato emigres from the South had skilled trades (Chudacoff pg.61).

In conclusion, whether free African American labors were skilled or not, the main point of their life is they can establish their own society, community, family and enjoy their culture.

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During the period of 1800 and 1865, the Erie Canal was built because of the in need of the trading in west coast. That was the first transportation system between New York City and the west coast. It made transportation much easier at that time. As the result, the Central Pacific Railroad Company was established in San Francisco in 1863 and they would like to construct the Pacific Railroad from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Oakland, California to increase trading. These two projects both faced one problem: the lack of labors. In the case of New York City, as the increase of the immigrants, more and more immigrants were hired to do the work. Almost the same as the case of San Francisco, however, the company hired labors from China. In both cases, many workers died during the construction because of the harsh and dangerous working condition. At last, the Erie Canal was not supported by the federal government. President Jefferson rejected the project and called this “a little short of madness”, but the New York governor, Dewitt Clinton, supported this idea. The Pacific Railroad was supported and funded by the Congress.

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During the 1840’s the Southern city of Savannah, Georgia was much slower in its urban growth and development when compared to New York City. While NYC was strongly developing its economy through trade, marketing and shipping, Savannah’s economy was highly dependent on processing of staple crop. However, similarly to New York City’s growing economy, Savannah soon blossomed with the leading cotton shipping ports in the world of Antebellum (Chudacoff 41). ” By 1820 Savannah was the eighteenth largest city in the United States and had established its preeminence as an international shipping center, with exports exceeding $14 million. Cotton remained the principal export until the Civil War” (The New Georgia Encyclopedia www.georgiaencyclopedia.org ).

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Difference

During 1850’s Urban slaves enjoyed greater mobility and cultural autonomy than did the rural counterparts. City slaves partook of a wider world. They had access to food, drink, entertainment, and the common sociability of urban life. They sometimes ran their own churches and they often sneaked away to talk and drink with fellow slaves, free African Americans and even working class whites in the backalley groceries and grogshop scattered throughout every southern city. Preferring to avoid costs of housing their slaves, some master gave their slaves permission to live as well as work away. When slaves lived out, they often resided in rented rooms on the fringes of town where free blacks and poor whites also lived. On the other hand, rural slaves such as Bondsmen on plantations lived in the slave quarters and saw only their masters’ families and occasionally slaves from a nearby plantation. (Chudacoff and Smith, 73)

Common

The Civil war, like all wars, had a disruptive effect on American cities during 1863. The riots erupted in New York Cities as well as in Richmond, Virginia. In New York, the turmoil lasted for four days which resulting more than four hindered deaths. Similarly, many people died in Richmond as well. However, the war itself had varying effects on cities, depending on the social and economic climate. (Chudacoff and Smith 81-83)

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The two North American cities New york and New Jersey developed in many different ways during the mid and early 1800s. Both the cities have significant similarities as well as some differences.

                                    New Jersey prospered during the early 1800s. New factories sprung up through out the state. Paterson became a textile center and later became known for producing trains and silk. Trenton produced clay products, iron and steel. Camden, Elizabeth, New wark and Jersey city all became major manufacturing centers in the 1800s. New york city was developing in different ways; the Erie Canal was completed in the 1825 providing boats a gateway to the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The economic impact of the Erie Canal was tremendous. Businessmen were able to ship goods in and out of the New York City through this man made river ( official website of the New Jersey State and www.inetours.com).

 One difference between the two states is, Legislation was passed in the  1804 to abolish slavery in the state of New Jersey; where as in the New York city slavery was still in existence until 1827.

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New Orleans and New York have their share of differences and similarities. The most obvious difference is that one is a city from the North while the other is a city from the South.  Each has it’s own different lifestyle. With the North being more notable for freedom for slaves and industrial services, the South was none for its intolerance towards slave freedom and their agriculturalist lifestyle. For New Orleans, this wasn’t held completely true. New Orleans “resembled northern counterparts in their commercial functions and social complexity” ( Chudacoff and Smith page 72) Although they were one of the few cities that had commercial functions, the business people relied heavily on the Northern capital and markets. This big one similarity, one difference between New Orleans and New York was that in New York diversity was well known and in a sense accepted. In New Orleans the French speaking people and the English speaking people had to be divided in the city “between a French quarter and an American Quarter, separated by a street with a broad medican called the Neutral Zone” (Chudacoff and Smith page 67) The diverse population in New York was in a sense mixed weren’t living in their own sections as was the case in New Orleans.

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Slavery existed both in New York and in Delaware. Both of these places turned to Africa to get hold of slaves but Delaware was pushed out by the more aggressive Europeans. Delaware eventually turned to Indian slaves, but did not have much success due to diseases and migration that left the land free of Indians. African slavery was not big until Peter Stuyvesant took over. By reclaiming the Delaware Bay, African slaves were brought across the Atlantic to work on the new colony, Delaware.  By 1776, the Revolutionary War disrupted the economy, so slaves were not as important anymore, and made slave trading and slave owning unprofitable. By 1810, 78 percent of Delaware’s blacks were free while only 63 percent was free in New York. In Delaware, slaves sold out of the states were automatically declared freed, and slave ships were barred from its ports. The Revolutionary War had an impact on slavery on both of these colonies. There was a huge decrease in the amount of slaves after the war. Unlike the other northern states such as New York, the freeing of black slaves have been done voluntarily and not with legal requirements (www.slavenorth.com).

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Commercialization and Urban expansion made a huge impact to American cities, such as New York City and Philadelphia. All American cities could be characterized by their compactness (Chudacoff 65). After 1810 slaves that were freed by the Gradual Manumission act began to increase the free African-American population in the city. The city became the center of free African-American life. They were drawn to cities because of higher chance of employment and a higher concentration of free African Americans. There is a greater chance to find an acceptable marriage partner to establish a family, and participate in activities of African churches, schools, Fraternal societies, and organizations (Chudacoff 69).

Afican-American Scubwoman

In New York City, freed slaves were more likely to have a better skill than freed slaves in Philadelphia, because  New York artisans had relied heavily on slave labor throughout the eighteenth century and because many of the mulatto had skills trades (Chudacoff 70). However, in both cities, the majority of free African-American Population were women and main jobs were a domestic servants, laundresses, produce sellers, and prostitutes.

Domestic work was the most common form of job done by urban black woman.

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New York City was a city port that accepted many immigrants. By the 1850’s more than half the residents of New York were foreign born (Chudacoff pg.64). San Francisco became part of the United States in 1848 and soon after came the Gold Rush. San Francisco also accepted many immigrants but it seems that the Chinese was the main fastest growing group of people. White miners in the gold fields began to ask the state protection from competitive Chinese miners. San Francisco then imposed tax on “foreign” miners to encourage the Chinese to leave (Chudacoof pg.67). A similar action was taken on freed slaves that lived in New York and other cities; freed slaves had to pay an annual tax, even though they were “free.”

European Immigrants Arriving in New York, 1850's

Chinese Miners in San Francisco

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New York City

When looking at New York and New Orleans during the 1800’s both are on opposite ends of the map. They seem like complete opposites in comparison, but they do contain similarities between them. New York is well known for its diversity, for example “by the 1850s, more than half the residents of  Boston and New York City were foreign born” (Chudacoff & Smith 72). This isnt’ a surprise as New York is well known for this, however, New Orleans is actually very diverse as well. “By 1860, 40 percent of New Orleans’s population was foreign born” (Chudacoff & Smith 72). In comparison, the ratio’s are similar, but when comparing this in number of people it isn’t as close. The foreign born population of New York in the 1850s was about  257750 (Chudacoff & Smith 60). While in the 1860s the foreign born population of New Orleans was about 67470 (Chudacoff & Smith 60).  This shows that even after ten years the New Orleans foreign born population was no where close in number the New York foreign born population was about 3.8 times the foreign population of New Orleans. This leads us to the big difference between both cities which is the size of them. New York was more greatly populated and more larger than New Orleans. For example in 1860 the New York population was 813,600 while the New Orleans population was 168,675 (Chudacoff & Smith 60).  The total New York population in 1860 is about 5 times more than the population of New Orleans. Overall, the two cities of New York City and New Orleans are both similar and different in certain aspects.

New Orleans

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Compare Richmond to New York City, one difference is that the population of free black increased fourfold between 1790 and 1810. However, for New York City, the population of free black increasing started by 1810, increased even more after the Gradual Manumission Act (Chudacoff 60).

On the other hand, both cities remained a larger proportion of slaves in 1860. Because of the increasing of unskilled white laborers and selling slaves to the plantations. The number of slaves in the southern cities decreased largely. Only in Richmond, the slave manpower demand of processing iron and tobacco kept the population of slaves basically unchanged in 1860 (Chudacoff 64). 

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Urban expansion in America from 1800 to 1865 was impressive. There was an intense competition of urbanization among many cities. Transportation improvement, for example, played a big role in the development of both New York City and Chicago. Like New York City, Chicago benefitted from the establishment of Erie Canal. The 363-mile canal, running west from Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo, completed the job of linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The connection among Erie Canal, and Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan made it possible for Chicago to extend its trade with other regions despite its location in the interior of the continent.  Allowing a new route of water travel, the canal largely reduced the shipping costs. Due to this advantage, Chicago emerged as one of the largest lake ports in the region. New York City also benefitted from Erie Canal since the canal extended its trade from New York State to the entire Great Lakes System. Thanks to this transportation improvement, the economy of New York City grew even more rapidly, and manufacturing was spread out.

However, unlike New York City, Chicago also benefitted from another form of transportation improvement—a web of railroad. It is worth pointing out that building railroad tracks were cheaper than building canals, and they don’t freeze in the winter. Railroad could also run through some tough areas. Thus, during the 1850s, the railroad system grew to serve the entire Illinois State. At the same time, more than 30,000 miles railroad was built in America. The complexity of the rail system allowed transporting products easier. The dependence of water transportation no longer existed, and railroad system immediately dominated the Midwest commercial transportation. At the heart of the Midwest, the location of Chicago won over the location of New York City. As a result, Chicago emerged more quickly, with its population growing from hundreds in the 1830s to more than 109,260 in the 1860s, making it one of the major cities of the nation.(38-39, Chudacoff)

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In the period of Industrial Revolution, a major change was made  in agriculture, manufacture  and transportation throughout the whole nation. People’s lives in different states changed differently. Slavery were abolished thoroughly. By 1820, Baltimore owned  the nation’s largest freed African-American, where New york had a sizable freed black population (page 60). On the other hand, around 1844, there were some institutions in Baltimore and New York, which were  established by African-American.

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