There is little doubt that by the time the Civil War was boiling up on the political and cultural landscape, America was a vastly different nation than it had been at its inception even just one hundred years before. One place particularly marked by dramatic changes in society was New York City where changes to the cityÆs society û including its status, commerce, technological developments, financial development, immigration, religion, race, and class structure -- throughout the time period of 1780 to 1860 influenced its political and economic situation by 1860.
In 1780, the United States was a hugely vast continent. Even though the country itself contained just 890,000 square miles, most of which hugged the coastline, it was still more than six times the size of England and Wales. About 95 percent of AmericaÆs population in general lived in rural areas, but New York City with its population of 33,131 was second only to the urban center of Philadelphia, which had a population of 44,096. Though New York City suffered two fires during the British occupation that destroyed a large part of the city, it did not destroy the cityÆs draw to become a political center for the fledgling nation. On December 23, 1784, New York City became the new nationÆs first capital city. Though this honor lasted only until 1790, it was at Federal Hall in New York City that George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789.
Though New York City was known even before the Revolution for its prominence in real estate speculation, after the Revolution securities speculation became popular as well. So much so that by the time Washington was inaugurated president in 1789, New York City was the leading center for securities speculation. By 1791, federal securities, a newly-issued United States Bank stock and the stock of the recently chartered Bank of New York all attracted the investing public and st...