The Corporate City: The American City as a Political Entity, 1800-1850

by Leonard P. Curry

Overview

This book begins the comparative study of U.S. urban development during the first half of the 19th century. Breathtaking in its comprehensiveness, its survey and comparisons of early urban politics is without parallel. The study is based on a thorough examination of fifteen cities—Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Charleston, Cincinnati, Louisville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. Louis, and Washington. This group of cities—the fifteen largest in 1850—provides a good mix of northern and southern, eastern and western, old and new, and fast- and slow-growing urban centers. This volume deals with the city as a corporate entity and contains chapters on urban governmental structures, government finance, politics and elections, urban political leadership, the city plan and city planning, intergovernmental relations, and urban mercantilism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313302770
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/21/1997
Series:	Contributions in American History Series , #172
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

LEONARD P. CURRY is Professor of History at the University of Louisville. His book, The Free Black in Urban America, 1800-1850: The Shadow of the Dream (1981), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History at the request of the chair of the history panel.

Table of Contents

General Introduction
Volume Introduction
City Government
Financing Urban Government
Urban Politics
Who Governed?
The City and the Plan
Intergovernmental Relations
Urban Mercantilism
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Considers the 15 largest U.S. cities in 1850<-->Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Charleston, Cincinnati, Louisville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. Louis, and Washington<-->with regard to city government, financing urban government, urban politics, who governed, the city and the plan, intergovernmental relations, and urban mercantilism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews