Themes in American History

One of the major difference between NYC and the rest of the cities in America has always been the population, but this difference expanded in the 1900s. All throughout American History, NYC has been the land of opportunity for the “hard workers” as well as the “dreamers” – but none more so during the 1900s. In the 1920s, musicians and artists from all over the country came to NYC, to try and be successful. With the radio reaching into every American’s house, NYC was the right place to be. America was introduced to the jazz and the blues. NYC was already home to Broadway theater, but it was only in the early 1900s, that the rest of America started taking notice of it.

Music was only one reason a lot of people were driven to NYC.  Industrialization, the growth in Transportation, and the opportunities available due to the New York Stock Exchange are some of the other reasons, that a lot of people were attracted to NYC. According to the census, the population in NYC grew by more than 2 million from 1900 to 1920, and by almost 2 million from 1920 to 1940, while the second most populous city at that time – Chicago, grew by a little over 1 million from 1900 to 1920 and by merely 700,000 from 1920 to 1940. Immigration is another big reason why NYC has always had a higher population growth than the other countries. During this period, millions of immigrants entered the city from Ellis Islands, although most of them did not live in NYC.

P.S: This video was shot in July 1903 by Edison Studios

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By the 1850s, more than half the residents of Boston and New York City were foreign born, and Philadelphia 30 percent of household heads were born in Europe. Major concentration of Irish immigrants cound be found in New York, Boston Philadelphia and San Francisco, and strong German communities emerged in Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and Milwaukee (P.65)

New York and Boston are both city of seaside, they are the fastest growing cities during 18^th century, and attract new immigrant from European country, like Irish, German. By 1850s, more than half of the residents of Boston and New York City were born in Europe.  The huge number of European immigration makes changes to society, like religion.  One of the differences between New York City and Boston is the density in urban side. The Populations of New York grow from 202,589 to 515,500 and Boston growth from 61392 to 136880 in 1830 to 1850. By 1850, there were 135.6 persons per acre in New York, 82.7 in Boston.  New York has much higher immigration population and density in urban area than Boston.

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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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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).

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