Cities In The Wilderness - The First Century Of Urban Life In America 1625-1742

CITIES IN THE WILDERNESS- The First Century of Urban Life in America 1625-1742 by CARL BRIDENBAUGH. Originally published in 1938. PREFACE: Today more than half of all Americans make their homes in cities, and the ease of modern transportation causes the lives of many more to be affected by town conditions. Our national history has been that of transition from a predominantly rural and agricultural way of living to one in which the city plays a major role. Both materially and psychologically urban factors govern much of American life. Their origins are therefore of more than passing interest. I do not believe them to have been solely the product of nineteenth century industrial ism, but rather to have germinated with the earliest settlement on American soil. Surviving evidence justifies the temerity of my con clusion that a full-fledged urban society existed well before the close of our first century of history. In these pages I have undertaken to describe the life of colonial America from 1625 to 1742 as it developed under urban conditions. In an attempt to secure a fully rounded treatment, the examination of this emerging urban society is concerned with its physical, economic,, social and cultural aspects. For the purposes of a complete picture five representative towns have been selected, Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Charles Town. These five towns were the largest on the continent at the eve of the American Revolution, and all fall well within the census definition of a city. They are further representative in respect to geographic position and political institu tions, and illustrate the influence of such factors on urban development. To emphasize the course of historical change in town life the work is divided into three chronological periods, each bearing a title suggestive of its predominant characteristics. The year 1742 is selected as a stopping point because in many respects it seems definitely to mark the end of an era in colonial town life. Under each of these periods four chapters deal with the physical aspects, economic development, urban problems, and social life in the five towns. Thus the book may be read as a whole, or any one of the four topics followed through by itself. The selection of sub-topics for discussion within each of the four major categories may seem to some capricious. I must urge in my own defense the words of a writer from the period with which I deal, that Whoso desireth to discourse in a proper manner concerning Corporated Towns and communities must take in a great variety of matter, and should be allowed a great deal of time and preparation/' The factor of variety has made it necessary to limit investigation to those problems, physical and social, upon the solution of which urban de velopment was entirely dependent. Hence, the omission of some subjects intrinsically interesting, or important from an antiquarian, ro mantic or literary point of view, yet hardly vital to or characteristic of the growth of colonial towns into present day cities. And both the variety of matter and the element of time have made exhaustive treatment of any one topic impossible. I should like to see definitive studies on any one of a number of subjects covered cursorily in these pages. For myself, I have tried to create a picture of colonial town society as a composite of all the evidence has led me to believe it must have been. Eme