In the mid-19th century, Horatio Alger published a book regarding how to achieve success, whether it’d be in the United States or in the growing city of New York. In this piece, he portrays the city as lively, well-rounded, and the center of opportunity. It was as if all the world revolved around what happened in Manhattan. But when the Industrial Revolution came, New York had its fair share of ups and downs. Soon after, the city was nicknamed many things, ranging from what Alger coined as the “Empire City” to what the Commercial Advertiser called it “the Cosmopolitan City.” As time moved along, different people started to conclude different things about New York, and although it started to make a massive impact on the economy, wealth, and growth for the nation at the time, many started to believe that it could lead to its destruction as well.
John D. Rockefeller is a household name that monopolized the oil business, owning and operating nearly 90% of the industry. He wasn’t the only multi-billionaire that functioned out of the city either. With this new eco-centric city, came way of the world’s elite. By 1900, the majority of the world’s richest people took home to Manhattan. And as they continued to prosper, so did the city they colluded in. While these businesses evolved, the city had no choice but to evolve with it. At this point in time, the city’s infrastructure as its citizens knew it was adapting at rates uncontestable with modern times. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State building, all rising from the ground up to make room for the business aspect the city now took on.
It was only time before New York became the largest city in the country, and with that being said, its population grew as well. Tammany Hall was well-known for housing the government that had to tame this wild beast, and one man in particular was elected the role to do it. William Tweed is one of the well-known politicians from this era, holding different seats throughout his tenure. Aside from his unorthodox ways of handling his constituents, he had a huge hand in allowing the city to develop the way it did. The system in which he formed allowed big businesses to produce its fullest potential, leaving no room for missed opportunity. On the other hand, he failed to receive as much support from the poorer crowd, and in fact provided the key that led to the “Tammany Riots.”
The Gilded Age disproved Alger’s path to success and made his work irrelevant by this time. The independence that came with its generation started to change drastically to a dependence on those who can barely help themselves. By this point, people were unemployed. Those who had jobs took the risk of joining unions in hope for better working conditions, better pay, and better hours. For some, these gatherings resulted in the changes they needed. But many found themselves struggling to pay their bills and watched as their jobs got filled by people who were willing to suffer. Henry George was one of the key actors in providing the support for unions, speaking at rallies, meetings, and sometimes in the middle of the roads. The American Federation of Labor became the most fruitful labor societies in history. Regardless, many strikes continued to occur, like the Brooklyn Trolley strike of 1895.
This age in New York made its people stingy, provincial, and uneducated to the rest of the world around them. With time, the gap between the wealthy and poor only grew. In the late 19th century, many journalists attempted to answer why this issue was so prominent, but one man in particular stood out above the rest. Jacob Riis, an immigrant from Denmark, was an author for novels about poverty, especially focusing on that of New York. He presented the people with the knowledge they either didn’t have access of seeing or refused to see in the beginning. By the time others began to run with the movement, the population began to help the cause as a whole.
With that came the fight from younger workers as well; while in today’s world, children are expected to go to school, many were forced to work from the time they were old enough to throw newspapers. And yet, they fought too for the better things in life, seeing how much they were suffering as compared to their counterparts who did manage to receive an education. These ideas led to the “Newsies” strikes, and allowed for organizations to be built from their struggles. They didn’t last, but managed to cause national uproar, as similar groups in Philadelphia, Boston, and other parts of New England joined in as well. For Riis, this could have been expected, although he never imagined his work would have such influence. Whether it was him or many other Americans at the time, the Gilded Age wasn’t so rich after all, especially not for the majority living in muted conditions, barely making it through each day.
