Themes in American History

The difference between New York City and Cincinnati is that while NYC is a trend setter, Cincinnati is not. Cincinnati sought out council for plans to construct a sewer system from NYC to improve their city (Chudacoff 47).  Although it would be wise to seek out advice from other developed cities, it denies Cincinnati to be considered as a truly independent city. In some circumstances, certain ideas may only work for certain areas which could also lead to many drawbacks because it may hinder more than help the city.

What could be considered a similarity between New York City and Cincinnati is that both cities heavily rely on water transportation for their commercial success. While New York City had the transatlantic connection and the Erie Canal, Cincinnati had the Ohio River and Mississippi River to conduct majority of its business. Both cities found great success through their ports, which also helped them boom in both population and wealth. Just as New York City is considered to be the best city of the east coast, Cincinnati was coined the “Queen of the West” (Chudacoff 37-38).

Cincinnati

New York City

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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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