Themes in American History

By the 20th century, Philadelphia had become one of the world’s largest industrial centers. But pollution, disease, and inadequate housing alarmed city officials. Unlike the high-rise tenements of New York. The three-story tall bandbox houses were often hidden from street view. Local government was slow to react. By 1920 most of south Philadelphia was filled with block after block of row and twin houses. unlike New York has the public place like central park and recreation park. philadelphia only has a few public squares and playgrounds provided off-street recreation and open green space.

4 Comments »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&hl=en&hl=zh-CN&v=S4aPi0ZgN0E

This clip is made by a Youtube user, vietnamgal and been uploaded in 7-26-2008.

The Great Depression was triggered by the stock market crash in 1929. This tragic event soon took effects on every American city, and led to heavy unemployment. New York City was been hit the hardest. By 1932, about 25 percent of the population was jobless, and most of them were concentrated in cities like New York and Philadelphia. New York City had one million unemployed, and Philadelphia had 298,000 people unemployed. In 1933, the unemployment of New York City reached 30 percent. The same year, the congress created FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which distributed $500 to help the country, and 42 percent of the fund went to the five heavily urbanized cities including New York and Philadelphia.

4 Comments »

According to Chudacoff, during the civil war, contrary to New York, Philadelphia, relative unity prevailed. Industries there met needs for war materiel, and workers adjusted to inflation and succeeded in getting some wage increases. Philadelphia residents responded relatively calmly to government quotas requiring that the city furnish a certain number of recruits for the Union army, and a strong police force deterred potential social upheaval. (81) Instead, in New York, there had riots which caused by unfair Draft Laws. The whites laborers were attacking black people and republicans and it lasted for four days and resulting in more than four hundred deaths. Most of all, it was a race riot. Through the image, we can see rioters subjected black men to the most brutal violence: torture, hanging, and burning.

Comments Off on New York / Philadelphia

Similarity:  1. The success of transportantion in NYC and Philadephia made other imitators to follow: For the transportation,  the first turnpike–Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike was built by private stock companies and financed by private investments and toll revenues, opened in 1794 between Lancaster and Philadelphia. Due to successof the turnpike, it caused many imitators to follow. In New York alone, privately operated turnpike companies had completed 4,000 miles of toll roads by 1820. (Chudacoff p.36). Similarly, Eirc Canal was under construction from 1817 to 1825 and officially opened on October 26, 1825.  It proved an enormous success upon its completion in 1825. Shipping costs from Lake Erie to New York dropped by more than  90%. The success of Erie Canal  spawned may imitators to follow as well as the turnpike. Two thousand miles of canals were built during the 1830s, include a ridiculously expensive Main Line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.

2. In New York, the upper 4 percent owned 49 percentof the wealth in 1828 and 66 percent in 1845. SImilar concentrations of wealth could be found in Philadephia. (Chudacoff p.44).

3.  The proportion of  African Americans diminished in NYC and Philadelphia: African Americans had contributed over 10 percent of the population in New York City in 1810; by 1860, they represented only 1.5 percent of all New Yorker. In Philadelphia, more than 12 percent of the population was black in 1830; by 1860, that proportion had dropped to less than 4 percent.  (Chudacoff p.66)

Differnence: Under pressures reulting from the yellow fever epidemics, Philadelphia constructed the country’s first major PUBLIC waterworks. while other cities included NYC which purchased water from PRIVATE companies. and the quality of the water system was low because few private corporations were willing to commit huge amounts of captial to the construction and mainltenance of an elaborate water system.

Comments Off on Similarity and difference between New York City and Philadelphia

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.

Comments Off on Free African Americans in New York and Philadelphia

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.

Comments Off on Freed Slaves

Most of American great cities were built near waterfront, which were true to both Philadelphia and New York. The completion of Erie Canal in 1825 created connection for New York City to the western markets. It linked the Hudson River to the Great Lake (Chudacoff 44). On the other hand, as a response to New York City, Philadelphia started its construction of transportation. The Pennsylvania railroads were built. One similarity of the two cities is that they were both the most populated cities from 1830 to 1860, and their population increased dramatically during the years (Chudacoff 60).

Comments Off on Comparing New York and Philadelphia