History 233 Reading Guide
The Northeast: Changing Spatial Relationships and the Rise of the City
- Simeon J. Crowther, "Urban Growth in the Mid-Atlantic States, 1785-1850," Journal of Economic History 36.3 (1976), 624-644. JSTOR
- Gary B. Nash, "The Social Evolution of Preindustrial American Cities, 1700-1820: Reflections and New Directions," Journal of Urban History 13 (1987), 115-145. (e-reserve)
Questions:
- According to Crowther, how has the process of urban development generally been explained? What new approaches and perspectives does he propose?
- How does Crowther describe and explain New York City's rapid growth from 1790 to 1820, especially in comparison to Philadelphia?
- What changes in population growth and urban development after 1815 does he describe?
- How does he account for those changes?
- Gary Nash describes both a process of change and the location of change in the social evolution of eighteenth-century cities. What interpretation does he offer for those changes?
- What does he emphasize about the diversity of urban communities in colonial and pre-industrial cities? What kind of diversity does he describe, and what were the consequences of that diversity?
- How does he characterize the changing "social geography" of American cities in the late eighteenth century?
- What mental and behavioral responses to those structural changes does he describe? What was the significance of the resilience and adaptability of the residents?