18th century New York City: Order and disorder - Essay Example

NEW YORK ORDER AND DISORDER Order, chaos and disorder are always the main theme of any big A metropolitan is more at risk of being a center of order and chaos than a relatively smaller city. There is no bigger city than New York City in the United States in terms of frequency of crime, events, incidents that take place every second. The fact that such centers are the main hub of all kind of activity is what grants them a basis nature of constant unpredictability where order and disorder rapidly change hands and thus chaos is the norm not an exception.

Since the 18th century, New York City has experienced order and disorder in rapid succession. The people are therefore quite accustomed to experiencing sudden momentous changes and they are more accepting of change than people in relatively calmer cities. When you talk about chaos or order in New York City, you have to talk to Tammany Hall. This place holds a pivotal place in the history of New York City politics and virtually controlled the entire city in the 19th century up to the mid of 20th century.

The history of the city began with the nomination of Fernando Woods in 1855 and he came from Tammany Hall. From then onwards, city saw major chaos during the civil war years. During the civil war, the mayor initially wanted the city to stay neutral. However this proposal wasn't accepted by the majority and NY city saw the worst communal riots of United States history in 1863. These were called the Draft Riots and though President Lincoln had major army of troops to control the city, the riots caused serious damage to the place.

The majority of the rioters were Irish and these riots turned into essentially racial riots with uncounted number of blacks losing their lives on the streets of NY City. The city saw more disturbances in the post-war period when it saw an influx of immigrants from Europe and corruption scandals rocked Tammany Hall. However this was not the only causes of activity. The city also became a hub of cultural activities. Several new museums and art galleries opened up and New York City also witnessed tremendous growth in artistic happenings.

During the same period, NY City became the center of exports and imports. In 1870s most of the country's exports passed through NY harbor and similarly most of the imports came through this channel only. Thus NY City could literally control the political economy of the entire country. But with increase of export import activity through Gulf of Mexico, New York City gradually lost this privileged position. The modern city of New York with its five boroughs came into being in 1898. After these events, the next major upheaval was caused by the First World War and the Great Depression era followed closely by the Second World War.

During this time, the city was in constant turmoil either due to economic problems or military conflicts. Despite all this, the years after the Second World War saw a significant increase in the health of economy and politics of the City which explains why it is the hub of all major intellectual and industrial activity in the country. References The Riots. Harper's Weekly, volume vii, no 344 382, 394. Sonofthesouth.net. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.