New York City was the center of American modernization during the late-nineteenth-century. Due to New York City’s appeal to both immigrants and rich and also being the home to finance, industry, and trade, the city earned the label the Empire City. However, New York was filled with problems ranging from the Tweed Ring to the “discovery of poverty.”
The late 1800s, dubbed as the “Gilded Age”, were a time where money was more important than morals, which encompassed the nation’s debate over the definition of progress. During this time, New York City was run by robber barons and their businesses, such as John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Trust or J.P. Morgan and his banking house, who made New York City the home of America’s national and international business. During this time, regulations were weak causing trusts to form; one of the most famous was Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust which used cutthroat competition and systematic consolidation to obtain control.
Aside from the economic aspects, New York City was also physically transforming. During this time, the city metamorphosed through elevated railways, new buildings, and electricity. The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883 which allowed the five boroughs to link together, making New York City a mega-city, the biggest city in America, and the second biggest city in the world. The Statue of Liberty also became America’s symbol of freedom during the “Gilded Age,” since it instilled the idea for immigrants that New York City was the door into America.
New York City not only transformed physically and economically but also politically. The Tweed Ring became the prominent form of political corruption, thus, becoming a model of how government should not act. The Tweed Ring was lead by William Tweed who held various elected and appointed positions that helped him eventually dominate both Tammany Hall and the Democratic Party. Tweed’s power eventually lead him into ruling both state and city by 1868. However, the 1871 Orange Riot showed how though Tweed offered jobs and schools to his Irish Catholic supporters, he could never tame them. Tweed was eventually punished and sent to Ludlow Street jail, where he died at the age of fifty-five. Even after his death, the Tweed Ring remained strong, ingraining the notion that the “Gilded Age” was full of greed.
During the “Gilded Age,” the building of brownstone buildings and mansions was juxtaposed with the already existing tenements. The opulent buildings with their spacious living conditions contrasted the dark and confined tenements. Journalist Jacob Riis published the book How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. When making his book, Riis used a magnesium powered camera to illuminate the darkness of the slums. His book was a great success, allowing people from all over the country to see the true living conditions in New York.
New York City also experienced a debate over child and public education during this era. Schools were meant to be used as agents of assimilation in order to teach children how to work in the new industry and resist Tammany Hall. In 1896, New York State reorganized the schools in the city to be under one centralized system, and in 1901, New York City became the first city to require schooling for all children under twelve. However, schooling issues did not end there. Racial segregation in schools was a state policy since 1864, causing some schools to have very limited opportunities for black children. For example, in Jamaica, black children were limited to a one-room schoolhouse and one teacher to teach seventy-five students. The black working class and lawyers fought for the cause; however, they risked jail time and job loss for fighting. Eventually in 1900, a law desegregating schools in New York State was signed by Governor Theodore Roosevelt.
The public not only opened its eyes to the poor living and educational conditions but also to poor working conditions during this time. New York City’s unions began protesting and striking during the 1860s and 1870s. Labor organizations were created during this time in order to fight for better wages and working conditions. Throughout the “Gilded Age,” New York City embodied the negatives of the industrial age through its corrupt government and poor living, working, and educational conditions. However, throughout this era, the people of New York City fought for better treatment and conditions. During this age, the people “learned to smile and weep with the poor,” in order to fight for their rights. (104)
