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History of New York City (1784-1854)
Encyclopedia
The history of New York City
(1784–1854) started with the establishment of the city as the capital of the new United States under the Congress of the Confederation
from January 11, 1785 to Autumn 1788, and then under the United States Constitution from it's ratification in 1789 until moving to Philadelphia in 1790. The city grew as an economic center with the opening of the Erie Canal
in 1825; the growth of its railroads would complete its dominance. Tammany Hall
began to grow in influence with the support of many of the immigrant Irish, culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854.
in 1783 and the resulting withdrawal of British troops from the city
in that year, led to the Congress of the Confederation
moving to Federal Hall
on Wall Street in 1785. The first government of the United States, operating under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union since its ratification in 1781, was soon found inadequate for the needs of the new nation. However, certain successes were achieved while in New York, including the passage of the Northwest Ordinance
, which laid the framework for the addition of new states into the Union.
A call for revision to the Articles was led by New Yorker Alexander Hamilton
, and the Annapolis Convention
was convened with representatives from the states to discuss the necessary changes. Lacking representation from all of the states, the Convention made no suggestions for changing the Articles but instead drafted a report that led to the creation of a Constitutional Convention the following year to create an entirely new governing document.
written in 1787 was under question when the Governor George Clinton
proved reluctant to submit state power to a strong national government, and was opposed to ratification. Some New York City businessmen proposed New York City secession
as an alternative to join the union separately, but Alexander Hamilton and others argued persuasively in the Federalist Papers
published in city newspapers for state ratification, which after much dispute finally passed in 1788. George Washington
was inaugurated as the first President on the steps of Federal Hall
in 1789, and the United States Bill of Rights
drafted in the city. The Supreme Court of the United States
sat for the first time in New York. After 1790, Congress left for Philadelphia.
In 1792, a group of merchants made the "Buttonwood Agreement
" and began meeting under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street
, beginning the New York Stock Exchange
, while a yellow fever
epidemic that summer sent New Yorkers fleeing (north) to nearby healthful Greenwich Village
.
In 1797, Hamilton's great rival, Aaron Burr
, became head of Tammany Hall
and turned it increasingly toward politics to support him in the 1800 presidential election.
In 1807, Robert Fulton
initiated a steamboat
line from New York City to Albany
.
New York remained a cosmopolitan enclave within America. The new French consul gave a report in 1810 that remains perfectly familiar:
The French consul's "fictitious capital" betokens the world of credit
, on which New Yorkers' confidence has been based. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811
imposed a surveyed grid upon all of Manhattan's varied terrain, in a far-reaching though perhaps topographically insensitive vision.
On September 3, 1821 the Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane caused a storm surge of 13 ft in one hour, leading to widespread flooding south of Canal Street
, but few deaths were reported. The hurricane is estimated to have been a Category 3 event and to have made landfall at Jamaica Bay
, making it the only hurricane in recorded history to directly strike what is now New York City.
In 1824, a riot occurred in Greenwich Village
between Irish
Anglicans and Catholic
s, after a parade by members of the Orange Order
. This was a precursor of the Orange Riots
of the 1870s.
On October 26, 1825 the Erie Canal
was completed, forming a continuous water route from the western Great Lakes
to the Atlantic and north to Lake Champlain
; it helped the city grow further by increasing river traffic upstate and to the Midwest.
The establishment of regular steam ferries, starting with Robert Fulton
's Fulton Ferry
in 1814, spurred the growth of Brooklyn
, which was established as a city in 1834.
In 1831, as the city continued to expand, the University of the City of New York, now New York University
, was founded at Washington Square
in Greenwich Village
. By 1835, Manhattan was in the throes of the first of its building booms, unfazed by the summer of cholera
in 1832.
Late on December 16, 1835 the Great Fire of New York
broke out. The temperature was below zero (F), and gale force winds were blowing. Firemen, some called from as far away as Philadelphia, were at first helpless to battle the wind driven fire due to icing lines and pumps. The fire leveled most of the city below Canal Street. Some merchandise was carried to churches that were thought fireproof, but several of these burned anyway. Eventually the fire was controlled by blowing up buildings in the fire's path.
Many of the merchants who lost their stores thought they would be covered by insurance, but the tremendous losses, and, in many cases, the destruction of the insurance company headquarters in the financial district, bankrupted the insurance firms and much of the loss was not covered.
The fires of the period, and the increased need for water for industry, led to the construction of the Croton Aqueduct
water system between 1837 and 1842. The aqueduct brought fresh water from the Croton Dam in northern Westchester County
over the High Bridge
to the Receiving Reservoir between 79th Street
and 86th Street
and Sixth
and Seventh
Avenues. From the Receiving Reservoir water flowed into the Distributing Reservoir, better known as the Croton Reservoir
. The Aqueduct opened on October 14, 1842, with great celebration. President John Tyler
, former presidents John Quincy Adams
and Martin van Buren
, and New York State Governor William H. Seward
were among those in attendance.
The city's rapid development was again interrupted by the Panic of 1837
. But the city recovered and by mid-century established itself as the financial and mercantile capital of the western hemisphere.
The Hudson River Railroad (which would grow into the New York Central) opened October 3, 1851; it extended Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, first railroad built in the state, south to New York City.
The city and its nearby suburbs grew rapidly for several reasons. The natural harbor at the base of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the New Jersey
ports at Newark
and Elizabeth
provided almost unlimited capacity for trading ships and protection from storms. Not until 1985 did New York lose its place as the busiest port in the world.
Other cities, like Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, had good natural harbors, but New York's advantage over other cities of the Eastern Seaboard was that the Hudson River and the Erie Canal
formed the only water-level route through the Appalachian Mountains
.
The city's strong entrepreneurial spirit discouraged family connections that would have stifled innovation and economic ambition. The city's cosmopolitan attitude and tolerance of many different cultures encouraged many different types of immigrant groups to settle in the city. Starting in the late 1840s, the city saw increased Irish
immigration with the Great Irish Famine and German
immigration with the Revolutions of 1848
.
Raw unregulated capitalism
created large middle, upper-middle and upper classes, but its need for manpower encouraged immigration into the city on an unprecedented scale, with mixed results. The famed melting pot
was brought into being, from which multitudes have since arisen in the successful pursuit of "the American Dream
". But countless others failed to rise, or entire generations were forced to plough themselves under for their children or grandchildren to rise. In the mid-to-late 19th century these antipodes could be found in the contrast between rich stretches of lower Broadway
, Washington Square
, Gramercy Park
and Lafayette Street (wealth that would later take up more extravagant residence on Fifth Avenue) and the almost unbelievably squalid enclave of Five Points
(abject poverty later to occupy the Lower East Side
).
Tammany Hall
's influence increased with its courting of the immigrant Irish vote, leading to the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood
, in 1854, and a trend of consolidation was beginning in the region with the three-year-old City of Williamsburgh
joining Brooklyn in 1855, establishing it as America's third city.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(1784–1854) started with the establishment of the city as the capital of the new United States under the Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...
from January 11, 1785 to Autumn 1788, and then under the United States Constitution from it's ratification in 1789 until moving to Philadelphia in 1790. The city grew as an economic center with the opening of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
in 1825; the growth of its railroads would complete its dominance. Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
began to grow in influence with the support of many of the immigrant Irish, culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854.
Capital City
With the signing of the Treaty of ParisTreaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
in 1783 and the resulting withdrawal of British troops from the city
Evacuation Day (New York)
Following the American Revolution, Evacuation Day on November 25 marks the day in 1783 when the last vestige of British authority in the United States — its troops in New York — departed from Manhattan...
in that year, led to the Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...
moving to Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
on Wall Street in 1785. The first government of the United States, operating under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union since its ratification in 1781, was soon found inadequate for the needs of the new nation. However, certain successes were achieved while in New York, including the passage of the Northwest Ordinance
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787...
, which laid the framework for the addition of new states into the Union.
A call for revision to the Articles was led by New Yorker Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, and the Annapolis Convention
Annapolis Convention
The Annapolis Convention was an Assembly of the Counties of Maryland that functioned as the colony's revolutionary government from 1774 to 1776...
was convened with representatives from the states to discuss the necessary changes. Lacking representation from all of the states, the Convention made no suggestions for changing the Articles but instead drafted a report that led to the creation of a Constitutional Convention the following year to create an entirely new governing document.
Federal City
The city's and state's status within the new union under the United States ConstitutionUnited States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
written in 1787 was under question when the Governor George Clinton
George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
proved reluctant to submit state power to a strong national government, and was opposed to ratification. Some New York City businessmen proposed New York City secession
New York City secession
There are and have been several secession movements in New York state. The most prominent amongst these have been the movements for a state of New York City, a state of Long Island, a state of Niagara , and a state of Upstate New York....
as an alternative to join the union separately, but Alexander Hamilton and others argued persuasively in the Federalist Papers
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
published in city newspapers for state ratification, which after much dispute finally passed in 1788. George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
was inaugurated as the first President on the steps of Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
in 1789, and the United States Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
drafted in the city. The Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
sat for the first time in New York. After 1790, Congress left for Philadelphia.
Economic development and immigration
Buttonwood Agreement
The Buttonwood Agreement, which took place on May 17, 1792, started the New York Stock & Exchange Board now called the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE. This agreement was signed by twenty-four stock brokers outside of 68 Wall Street New York under a buttonwood tree. The organization drafted its...
" and began meeting under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, beginning the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, while a yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic that summer sent New Yorkers fleeing (north) to nearby healthful Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
.
In 1797, Hamilton's great rival, Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician...
, became head of Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
and turned it increasingly toward politics to support him in the 1800 presidential election.
In 1807, Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
initiated a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
line from New York City to Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
.
New York remained a cosmopolitan enclave within America. The new French consul gave a report in 1810 that remains perfectly familiar:
- "its inhabitants, who are for the most part foreigners and made up of every nation except Americans so to speak, have in general no mind for anything but business. New York might be described as a permanent fair in which two-thirds of the population is always being replaced; where huge business deals are being made, almost always with fictitious capital, and where luxury has reached alarming heights... It is in the countryside and in the inland towns that one must look for the American population of New York State." (quoted by Fernand BraudelFernand BraudelFernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects, each representing several decades of intense study: The Mediterranean , Civilization and Capitalism , and the unfinished Identity of France...
, The Perspective of the World, 1984 p 406).
The French consul's "fictitious capital" betokens the world of credit
Credit (finance)
Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately , but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided may be financial Credit is the trust...
, on which New Yorkers' confidence has been based. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811
Commissioners' Plan of 1811
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design plan for the streets of Manhattan, which put in place the grid plan that has defined Manhattan to this day....
imposed a surveyed grid upon all of Manhattan's varied terrain, in a far-reaching though perhaps topographically insensitive vision.
On September 3, 1821 the Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane caused a storm surge of 13 ft in one hour, leading to widespread flooding south of Canal Street
Canal Street (Manhattan)
Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west to Brooklyn in the east . It forms the main spine of Chinatown, and separates it from Little Italy...
, but few deaths were reported. The hurricane is estimated to have been a Category 3 event and to have made landfall at Jamaica Bay
Jamaica Bay
Jamaica Bay is located on the southwestern tip of Long Island in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, and the town of Hempstead, New York/hamlet of Inwood...
, making it the only hurricane in recorded history to directly strike what is now New York City.
In 1824, a riot occurred in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
between Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Anglicans and Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s, after a parade by members of the Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
. This was a precursor of the Orange Riots
Orange Riots
The Orange riots took place in Manhattan, New York City in 1870 and 1871, and involved violent conflict between Irish Protestants, called "Orangemen", and Irish Catholics, along with the New York City Police Department and the New York State National Guard....
of the 1870s.
On October 26, 1825 the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
was completed, forming a continuous water route from the western Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to the Atlantic and north to Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
; it helped the city grow further by increasing river traffic upstate and to the Midwest.
The establishment of regular steam ferries, starting with Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
's Fulton Ferry
Fulton Ferry (ferry)
The Fulton Ferry was the first ferry route connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, United States, joining Fulton Street and Fulton Street across the East River...
in 1814, spurred the growth of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, which was established as a city in 1834.
In 1831, as the city continued to expand, the University of the City of New York, now New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, was founded at Washington Square
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. By 1835, Manhattan was in the throes of the first of its building booms, unfazed by the summer of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
in 1832.
Great Fire of New York
The Great New York Fire was a conflagration that destroyed the New York Stock Exchange and most of the buildings on the southeast tip of Manhattan around Wall Street on December 16–17, 1835....
broke out. The temperature was below zero (F), and gale force winds were blowing. Firemen, some called from as far away as Philadelphia, were at first helpless to battle the wind driven fire due to icing lines and pumps. The fire leveled most of the city below Canal Street. Some merchandise was carried to churches that were thought fireproof, but several of these burned anyway. Eventually the fire was controlled by blowing up buildings in the fire's path.
Many of the merchants who lost their stores thought they would be covered by insurance, but the tremendous losses, and, in many cases, the destruction of the insurance company headquarters in the financial district, bankrupted the insurance firms and much of the loss was not covered.
The fires of the period, and the increased need for water for industry, led to the construction of the Croton Aqueduct
Croton Aqueduct
The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842...
water system between 1837 and 1842. The aqueduct brought fresh water from the Croton Dam in northern Westchester County
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
over the High Bridge
High Bridge (New York City)
The High Bridge is a steel arch bridge, with a height of almost 140 feet over the Harlem River, connecting the New York City boroughs of The Bronx and Manhattan...
to the Receiving Reservoir between 79th Street
79th Street (Manhattan)
79th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East 79th Street stretches from East End Avenue to Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, where it enters Central Park through Miners' Gate...
and 86th Street
86th Street (Manhattan)
86th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.On the West Side its continuous cliff-wall of apartment blocks includng The Belnord is broken by two contrasting landmarked churches at prominent corner sites, the Tuscan...
and Sixth
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
and Seventh
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Seventh Avenue, known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a two-way street north of the park....
Avenues. From the Receiving Reservoir water flowed into the Distributing Reservoir, better known as the Croton Reservoir
Croton Distributing Reservoir
The Croton Distributing Reservoir, also known as the Murray Hill Reservoir, was an above-ground reservoir at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It supplied the city with drinking water during the 19th century. The reservoir was a man-made lake in area,...
. The Aqueduct opened on October 14, 1842, with great celebration. President John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
, former presidents John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
and Martin van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....
, and New York State Governor William H. Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
were among those in attendance.
The city's rapid development was again interrupted by the Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
. But the city recovered and by mid-century established itself as the financial and mercantile capital of the western hemisphere.
The Hudson River Railroad (which would grow into the New York Central) opened October 3, 1851; it extended Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, first railroad built in the state, south to New York City.
Rise of the immigrant city
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
ports at Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
provided almost unlimited capacity for trading ships and protection from storms. Not until 1985 did New York lose its place as the busiest port in the world.
Other cities, like Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, had good natural harbors, but New York's advantage over other cities of the Eastern Seaboard was that the Hudson River and the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
formed the only water-level route through the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
.
The city's strong entrepreneurial spirit discouraged family connections that would have stifled innovation and economic ambition. The city's cosmopolitan attitude and tolerance of many different cultures encouraged many different types of immigrant groups to settle in the city. Starting in the late 1840s, the city saw increased Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
immigration with the Great Irish Famine and German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
immigration with the Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
.
Raw unregulated capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
created large middle, upper-middle and upper classes, but its need for manpower encouraged immigration into the city on an unprecedented scale, with mixed results. The famed melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
was brought into being, from which multitudes have since arisen in the successful pursuit of "the American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
". But countless others failed to rise, or entire generations were forced to plough themselves under for their children or grandchildren to rise. In the mid-to-late 19th century these antipodes could be found in the contrast between rich stretches of lower Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, Washington Square
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
, Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
and Lafayette Street (wealth that would later take up more extravagant residence on Fifth Avenue) and the almost unbelievably squalid enclave of Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
(abject poverty later to occupy the Lower East Side
Lower East Side, Manhattan
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
).
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
's influence increased with its courting of the immigrant Irish vote, leading to the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood
Fernando Wood
Fernando Wood was an American politician of the Democratic Party and mayor of New York City; he also served as a United States Representative and as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in both the 45th and 46th Congress .A successful shipping merchant who became Grand Sachem of the...
, in 1854, and a trend of consolidation was beginning in the region with the three-year-old City of Williamsburgh
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
joining Brooklyn in 1855, establishing it as America's third city.