USA > New York > A short history of New York State > Part 71
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Political Change, 1783-1825
General works dealing with politics in this period are listed under compre- hensive histories of New York in Part I. For an over-all view Fox, Decline of Aristocracy, is extremely valuable. J. D. Hammond, The History of Political Parties in the State of New York (2 vols., 1842), is excellent and is a primary source for many aspects of politics. The period of the Confederacy and the ratification of the federal Constitution are best covered by Spaulding, New York in the Critical Period; The Federalist, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, edited by P. L. Ford (1898); and Journal of the Convention of the State of New York . .. 1788, published by New York State. J. M. Smith, Freedom's Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties (1956), is the standard work on this subject. Smith has several chapters on Jedediah Peck and other victims of the Sedition Law. The early history of New York City after independence is best treated in Pomerantz, New York-An American City. The War of 1812 is covered in general histories of the period. A good monograph on the subject is L. L. Babcock, The War of 1812 on the Niagara Frontier (1927).
The constitutional convention of 1821 lacks definitive treatment. Good sum- maries can be found in Fox, op. cit., and in John Horton, James Kent (1939). The student will find the full story in N. H. Carter, W. L. Stone, and M. T. C. Gould, eds., Report of the Proceedings of the Convention of 1821 (1821).
The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren, ed. by J. C. Fitzpatrick (1920) has some material on New York politics. Of the biographies the most useful are: Dorothie Bobbé, De Witt Clinton (1933) ; D. T. Lynch, An Epoch and a Man: Martin Van Buren and His Times (1929); and Spaulding, His Excellency George Clinton.
Heyday of the Land Speculator
Higgins, Expansion in New York, provides a good introduction. An excellent analysis of the role of the land agent is found in N. A. McNall, An Agricultural History of the Genesee Valley, 1790-1860 (1952). For information on the
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land system and antirent troubles of eastern New York, see D. M. Ellis, Land- lords and Farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk Region 1790-1850 (1946). Henry Christman, Tin Horns and Calico (1945), has a colorful defense of the antirenters. Scholarly studies of foreign investments in New York lands are H. I. Cowan, Charles Williamson: Genesee Promoter (1941), and P. D. Evans, The Holland Land Company (1924). For informative articles on land pro- prietors, see Raymond Walters, Jr., and P. G. Walters, "David Parish: New York Land Promoter," New York History, XXVI (April 1945), 146-161; and J. G. Van Deusen, "Robert Troup: Agent of the Pulteney Estates," New York History, XXIII (April 1942), 166-180. K. B. Porter, John Jacob Astor, Busi- ness Man (2 vols., 1931) describes the leading speculator in urban real estate.
Orsamus Turner's classic histories of western New York contain much source material: History of the Pioneer Settlement of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase and Morris Reserve (1851) and Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York (1849). A significant booklet by a large pro- moter is William Cooper, A Guide in the Wilderness (1810). The problems of land development are revealed in R. W. Bingham, ed., Holland Land Com- pany Paper Reports of Joseph Ellicott, Buffalo Historical Society Publications (2 vols., 1937-1941).
Farm and Forest
A good general account with excellent material on social aspects of rural life as well as agricultural developments is Hedrick, A History of Agriculture. Monographs dealing with the pioneer experience in important regions of the state are Ellis, Landlords and Farmers; J. A. Frost, Life on the Upper Susquehanna, 1783-1860 (1951); and McNall, Agricultural History. An ad- mirable discussion of the tools used in the household manufacture is found in Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., The Golden Age of Homespun (1927; rev. 1953).
For source material, many excellent memoirs and travel accounts are avail- able. No student should miss Crèvecoeur's charming essays, Letters from an American Farmer. For Long Island agriculture, see William Cobbett, A Year's Residence, in the United States of America (1828). Conditions in eastern and central New York are described in Levi Beardsley, Reminiscences (1852), and Dwight, Travels in New-England and New-York. The anonymous author of American Husbandry made penetrating observations on New York agriculture.
Founding the Business Empire
Albion's admirable study, The Rise of New York Port, analyzes the role of the Manhatten merchant. Informative lives of two merchants are Porter, John Jacob Astor, and H. B. Howe, Jedidiah Barber, 1787-1876 (1939). Information on transportation is abundant although not readily summarized. J. A. Durrenberger, Turnpikes: A Study of the Toll Road Movement in the Middle Atlantic States and Maryland (1931), is thorough, but it should be supplemented by O. W. Holmes's chapter in Flick, History, vol. V, and Hedrick, History of Agriculture. Bobbé, De Witt Clinton, describes the founder of the Erie Canal. McNall, Agricultural History, has information on roads and river travel in western New York. The best account of labor is
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McKee, Labor in Colonial New York. The rise of capitalistic enterprise in one upstate region is contained in Frost, Life on the Upper Susquehanna.
The Yankee Invasion of New York
The most interesting analysis of the transit of Yankee institutions to New York is found in the delightful essays Yankees and Yorkers by Fox. L. K. Mathews, The Expansion of New England (1909), is outmoded. An excellent study on New England migration is Lewis Stilwell, "Migration from Vermont (1776-1860)," Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, V (1927). The Yankee impact on commercial life can be traced in R. G. Albion, The Rise of New York Port, 1815-1860 (1939), and in Blake McKelvey, Rochester, the Water-Power City: 1812-1854 (1945). R. H. Gabriel, The Evolution of Long Island (1921), has information on Connecticut influence on that region. A convenient summary is given in D. M. Ellis, "The Yankee Invasion of New York, 1783-1850," New York History, XXXII (Jan. 1951). Robert Ernst, Immigrant Life in New York City 1825-1863 (1949), is informative.
For source material, see travel accounts and memoirs. A fine account by a perceptive observer is Timothy Dwight, Travels in New-England and New- York (4 vols., 1821-1822). The two works by Orsamus Turner cited previously contain much source material on migration to western New York. County histories are uneven. One of the best is Pomroy Jones, Annals and Recollections of Oneida County (1851). For a fictional description of a Yankee squatter, see James Fenimore Cooper's The Chainbearer (1846).
Social and Cultural Life, 1775-1825
An excellent introduction to social life in the countryside is Hedrick, His- tory of Agriculture. Urban problems are well handled in Pomerantz, New York; Ralph Weld, Brooklyn Village, 1816-1836 (1938); McKelvey, Rochester. The role of the upstate printer has received exhaustive treatment by Milton Hamilton, The Country Printer New York State, 1785-1830 (1936). Orsamus Turner's volumes on western New York, cited above, contain much social history. Whitney Cross, The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (1950), has a good section on the early religious pattern of upstate New York.
Perhaps the most interesting autobiography of this period is the Autobiog- raphy of Thurlow Weed, which was edited by his daughter, Harriet Weed (1884). For education, see T. E. Finegan, Free Schools, A Documentary History of the Free School Movement in New York State. This study appears in the Fifteenth Annual Report, I (1919), of the New York State Education Department. The novels of James Fenimore Cooper and the Diedrick Knicker- bocker History by Washington Irving must be read if one is to appreciate the authors' treatment of New York themes. The literature on Cooper is quite extensive. The most recent estimate of his place in history is a special issue of New York History (1954) in which several authorities comment on Cooper's works and career. This issue also appeared as a separate title: James Fenimore Cooper: A Re-Appraisal (1954).
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NEW YORK IN THE NATIONAL PERIOD, 1825-1865
General Works (not previously cited as such)
Histories dealing with various regions and cities are helpful for this period. Among those previously cited are books by McKelvey, Ellis, Frost, McNall, and Albion. Political affairs can be traced in the works of Flick, Alexander, and Lincoln.
Source Materials
Political and social events in New York City are candidly revealed in The Diary of Philip Hone, ed. by Allan Nevins (2 vols., 1927), and the Diary of George Templeton Strong (4 vols., 1952). The state has published the papers and messages of the various governors. Source materials which deal with specific aspects are listed under topical headings.
Politics, 1825-1861
Hammond, History of Political Parties, gives an informed account. Hammond in a third volume (1852) brought the history down to 1847. H. D. A. Donovan, The Barnburners (1925), is scholarly and readable. For the nativist movement see L. D. Scisco's excellent study Political Nativism in New York State (1901). The autobiographies of Van Buren and Thurlow Weed previously cited are useful. Horace Greeley, Recollections of a Busy Life (1868), is well done. Beardsley, Reminiscences, is the interesting account of a man active in state politics. Valuable material is contained in the published works of Daniel S. Dickinson, William H. Seward, Horatio Seymour, and Samuel J. Tilden. John Bigelow, Life of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., 1895), is outdated and should be supplemented by A. C. Flick, Samuel J. Tilden (1939). G. G. Van Deusen has written two penetrating lives of notable New York politicians: Thurlow Weed: Wizard of the Lobby (1947) and Horace Greeley: Nineteenth-Century Crusader (1953). A modern life of William H. Seward is badly needed. The student must use two outdated biographies: F. W. Seward, William H. Seward (3 vols., 1891), and Frederic Bancroft, Life of William H. Seward (2 vols., 1900). The following biographies give excellent insight to pre-Civil War politics: Stewart Mitchell, Horatio Seymour of New York (1938); R. V. Harlow, Gerrit Smith (1939); Arthur Garraty, Silas Wright (1949); Lynch, An Epoch and a Man, which is a biography of Van Buren.
Building the Transportation Network
The books of Hedrick, McNall, Ellis, Frost, and Gabriel should be con- sulted for information on waterways, turnpikes, and railroads. The Erie Canal deserves a history which can match its significance. Meanwhile readers must rely on N. E. Whitford, History of the Canal System of the State of New York (2 vols., 1905), which is excellent on engineering and construction but weak on economic and political history. The major railroads have their chroniclers. For the New York Central, see F. W. Stevens, The Beginnings of the New
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York Central, 1826-1853 (1926), and the most recent account by Alvin Harlow, The Road of the Century (1948). Much valuable information on New York steamboats and railroads is included in Edward Kirkland's monumental work, Men, Cities, and Transportation (2 vols., 1948). .
The Businessman
The best recent survey of economic activity in this period is G. R. Taylor, The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860 (1951). Admirable treatments of the merchant marine are found in J. G. B. Hutchins, The American Mari- time Industries and Public Policy, 1789-1914 (1941), and R. G. Albion, Square-Riggers on Schedule (1938). Albion's Rise of New York Port is a valuable analysis of the foreign trade by New York City. The career of New York's greatest shipowner is well handled in W. J. Lane, Commodore Vanderbilt (1942). The literature on domestic commerce is less plentiful and less re- liable. F. M. Jones, Middlemen in the Domestic Trade of the United States, 1800-1860 (Univ. of Illinois studies in the social sciences, vol. XXI, no. 3, 1937), pays much attention to New York and the auction system in particular. Porter's John Jacob Astor is a model study of one of Manhattan's greatest businessmen and landowners.
The chapter "The Rise of the Factory System" by H. J. Carman and A. B. Gold in Flick's History, VI, 191-245, is the best account of manufacturing. Students will find statistics on manufacturing in the volume on Manufactures in the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, and in Hough, Census.
A specialized study of banking policy is R. E. Chaddock, The Safety Fund Banking System in New York, 1829-1866, found in Senate Document, no. 581, 61 Cong., 2 Sess., IV, no. 2. M. G. Myers, The New York Money Market (4 vols., 1931), has a detailed description on the development of the stock exchange.
The Diary of Philip Hone is a splendid source for the social and political life of a prominent businessman. J. A. Scoville (Walter Barrett, pseud.), The Old Merchants of New York (5 vols. in 3, 1863-1866), is a garrulous but indispensable source for the early merchants of Manhattan.
Rise of the Dairy State
The various regional studies by Ellis, McNall, Frost, and Gabriel are the most informative and useful. The general description by Hedrick, History of Agriculture, should be consulted. H. J. Carman, Jesse Buel, Agricultural Re- former (1947), throws much light on the movement for agricultural improve- ment. John Burroughs, My Boyhood (1922), is a charming account of life on a Delaware County farm. Van Wagenen, The Golden Age of Homespun, includes excellent sketches of farm tools and machinery as well as accurate descriptions of farming practices.
Immigration and Labor
Population statistics are conveniently presented in F. B. Hough, ed., Census of the State of New York for 1855 (1857). An admirable treatment of the
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European background of immigration is given in M. L. Hansen, Atlantic Migration 1607-1860: A History of the Continuing Settlement of the United States (1940). Ernst, Immigrant Life, describes the housing, economic, and cultural activities of workingmen in New York City. Two recent studies on the Irish are objective and thorough: Florence Gipson, The Attitudes of the New York Irish toward State and National Affairs, 1848-1892 (1951), and Carl Wittke, The Irish in America (1956). The political reaction of Americans to the foreign-born is covered by L. C. Scisco, Political Nativism.
An old but valuable history of labor is J. R. Commons, et al., History of Labour in the United States (4 vols., 1918-1935). Philip Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States (1947), has much detail on the Working Men's party, the rise of unions, and the Utopian movement, but his interpretation has a Marxist slant. Norman Ware, The Industrial Worker, 1840-1860 (1924), concentrates on New England. The most systematic analysis of a municipality's attempt to meet the problems of fire and police protection and water supply is found in McKelvey, Rochester. New York City's quest for water is well described in Nelson Blake, Water for the Cities: A History of the Urban Water Supply Problem in the United States (1956). Students should consult Horton's excellent study on Buffalo which is found in History of Northwestern New York (3 vols., 1947), vol. I: J. T. Horton, Old Erie- The Growth of an American Community. R. E. Riegel, Young America 1830- 1840 (1949), is the best general introduction to the social conditions of the period.
Source material: J. R. Commons et al., Documentary History of American Industrial Society (10 vols., 1910-1911), vols. III-VI, has a good deal of material on the early unions and parties of New York. For the comments of the upper-class business and political leader on immigration and urban prob- lems, see the diaries of Philip Hone and George Templeton Strong. Greeley, Recollections, has much pertinent information on labor and urban problems.
Religion and Reform
The best introduction to Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish activities is in Flick, History, IX, 127-229. The life of Archbishop Hughes is well covered in J. G. Hassard, Life of the Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D., First Archbishop of New York (1866). J. H. Hotchin, History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York, and of the . . . Presbyterian Church in That Section (1848), has much contemporary material about the Calvinist churches in western New York. C. G. Finney, Memoirs Written by Himself (1876), is an account by a leading revivalist and reformer.
The literature on religious extremism in New York is large and constantly growing. The basic study is by Cross, The Burned-Over District. Perhaps the most interesting account is Carmer, Listen for a Lonesome Drum. A first- rate study of the Shakers is E. D. Andrew, The People Called Shakers: A Search for the Perfect Society (1953). P. B. Noyes, My Father's House (1937), is a memoir of Oneida Community by one brought up there.
An excellent recent study of the reformers of this period is C. C. Cole, Jr., The Social Ideas of the Northern Evangelists, 1826-1860 (1954). Harlow's
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life of Gerrit Smith is solidly based on the reformer's papers. The introductory chapters in G. H. Barnes, The Antislavery Impulse, 1830-1844 (1933), con- tain much information on New York State reformers. The best account of the temperance movement is J. A. Krout, The Origins of Prohibition (1925). S. L. Knapp, ed., Life of Thomas Eddy (1836), contains some of the corre- spondence of an important but little-known reformer.
A thorough study of hospitals, asylums, and relief problems is given in Schneider, History of Public Welfare. A summary of this study can be found in Flick, History, vol. VIII. The famous Yates report on poor laws is indis- pensable for students. It was originally published in New York Senate Journal, 47 Sess. (1824), pp. 95-108. It is more easily found in New York State Board of Charities, Annual Report for the Year 1900 (1901), I, 937-1145. Prisons are covered in Philip Klein, Prison Methods in New York State (1920). D. L. Dix, Remarks on Prisons and Prison Developments in the United States (1845), is a contemporary account by a famous reformer. The movement for the social, economic, and political emancipation of women is treated by E. C. Stanton, S. B. Anthony, et al., History of Woman Suffrage (6 vols., 1881-1922).
School and Society
An old but detailed account of elementary education is S. S. Randall, History of the Common School System of the State of New York (1871). See also Charles Fitch, The Public School: History of Common School Education in New York (1904), and D. E. W. Hodge and L. F. Hodge, A Century of Service to Public Education (1945). The best description of the academy is G. F. Miller, The Academy System of the State of New York, which appears in the Fifteenth Annual Report of the New York State Education Department, II (1919). Short histories of the various colleges can be found in F. B. Hough, Historical and Statistical Record of the University of the State of New York (1885), and Sidney Sherwood, The University of the State of New York in the United States Bureau of Education's Contributions to American Educational History (1900).
Van Deusen's brilliant lives of Thurlow Weed and Horace Greeley are the best studies of editors. Allan Nevins has a good survey of the press in Flick, History, vol. IX.
Literary figures are best approached through the appropriate chapters in R. E. Spiller et al., Literary History of the United States (3 vols., 1948). The third volume has an extensive bibliography of the writings of New York authors. The advanced student of literature will find a detailed analysis of the literary background in Perry Miller, The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville (1956).
The most penetrating description of the creative arts in this period is Oliver Larkin, Art and Life in America (1949). Short but adequate accounts of architecture, art, music, and sculpture are included in the American Guide Series on New York State and New York City. See also the chapters in Flick, History. A prominent artist has received a balanced treatment in Theodore Bolton and I. F. Cortelyou, Ezra Ames of Albany: Portrait Painter, Craftsman, Royal Arch Mason, Banker, 1768-1836 (1955).
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New York and the Civil War
The most detailed history of political events is S. D. Brummer, Political His- tory of New York State during the Period of the Civil War (1911). Biographies of two prominent Democratic politicians give us an idea of the position of the peace Democrats: Mitchell, Horatio Seymour, and S. A. Pleasants, Fernando Wood of New York (1948). The many ties between New York City business- men and the South are well handled in P. S. Foner, Business and Slavery (1941). J. A. Rawley, Edwin D. Morgan, 1811-1883: Merchant in Politics (1955), gives a good account of the Republican governor during the first part of the Civil War.
The impact of the Civil War upon urban life is examined in three studies: Basil Lee, Discontent in New York City 1861-1865 (1944); McKelvey, Roch- ester; Horton, Old Erie. An excellent description of life in upper-class circles in New York City can be found in The Diary of George Templeton Strong, vol. III.
Much military information about New Yorkers in the Civil War is available. in Frederick Phisterer, New York in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (5 vols., 1912), and H. G. Pearson, James S. Wadsworth of Geneseo (1913). The financial developments are explained in Don Sowers, The Financial His- tory of New York State from 1789 to 1912 (1914). A. D. White, Autobiog- raphy of Andrew D. White (2 vols., 1922), has acute observations on intel- lectual and political trends.
II
1865-1956
The history of New York State became increasingly intermingled with that of the nation after the Civil War. The number of books dealing with purely state history is rather limited. On the other hand, many books which on the surface describe national developments devote a large part of their pages to developments within New York. For example, books dealing with music, painting, architecture, the theater, and other arts naturally devote much space to events in New York State. It is for this reason, therefore, that this part of the bibliography includes more books describing national developments.
POLITICS, 1865-1956
General Works
There is no single history covering New York politics and government from the Civil War to the present. The multivolumed works edited or written by Alexander, Flick, and Smith (all of which have been cited earlier) deal
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in part with this period, but none is adequate. Matthew Josephson, The Po- liticos (1938), although a history of national politics, throws considerable light on developments in New York. Interesting and frequently revealing an- ecdotes by contemporary observers of the state's politics in the period after the Civil War can be found in W. C. Hudson, Random Recollections of an Old Political Reporter (1911), and M. P. Breen, Thirty Years of New York Politics Up-to-Date (1899). Special mention should also be made of Lee Benson, Merchants, Farmers & Railroads: Railroad Regulation and New York Politics, 1850-1887 (1955), a monograph that is distinguished by the excel- lence of the author's scholarship and the originality of his interpretations. There is also a large amount of important governmental history in Schneider and Deutsch, History of Public Welfare.
Although there is no adequate study of New York City politics in this period, useful summaries of the ups and downs of Manhattan's Democratic organization are available in M. R. Werner, Tammany Hall (1928), and Gustavus Myers, History of Tammany Hall (1917). A careful description of one aspect of New York City's government is given in Frederick Shaw, The History of the New York City Legislature (1954). Metropolitan politics are briefly summarized in Allan Nevins and J. A. Krout, eds., The Greater City: New York, 1898-1948 (1948). For studies of two municipal problems that concerned reformers as well as politicians, see Gordon Atkins, Health, Housing and Poverty in New York City, 1865-1898 (1947) and H. J. Carman, The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City (1919).
Several recent books have examined the governmental machinery of New York. Students will find an especially rewarding treatment in Warren Moscow, Politics in the Empire State (1948). Moscow, a former Albany correspondent for the New York Times, provides both an inside story of the workings of state government and a stimulating mixture of colorful anecdotes and per- ceptive analyses. His book should be supplemented by David Beetle, The New York Citizen (1955), a sprightly written but accurate account of the various state departments. A thorough but somewhat heavy-handed account is L. K. Caldwell, The Government and Administration of New York (1954). A concise and clear analysis of state and local government put out by the New York State Education Department is Robert Rienow, Our State and Local Government (1954).
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