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Philadelphia is STILL the most important American city in recent history. If it wasn't for some idiotic founding fathers' decisions to move commerce to New York and build a new capital in DC, Philly could've been a primate city, like London. So expect a lot of hate from Philadelphians toward New York and DC for getting the hype they don't deserve.
New York has the largest deep water harbor in the world with hundreds of miles of navigable rivers channels and waterfront it also had the best access to the inland of the northeast US (Hudson River). It was destined to become the number one city in America.
Thats one big reason why Philadelphia (aside the number of firsts) would trump Boston, but luckily, we can pick two.
Philadelphia and Boston are without question the colonial centers.
Though I think it is 3 centers including New York. Philadelphia was were the important diplomatic ideas came together. Boston is were the flashy events for history books took place. NYC burned to the ground.
Outside of the colonial period though. Philadelphia's industrial power played a large roll in basically every major war the US was ever involved in. Robert E. Lee was marching towards Philadelphia before being defeated at Gettysburg ending the threat of Philadelphia falling into Confederate Hands.
One of the largest spectacles in American History was the Funeral train of Abraham Lincoln that traveled to Springfield, Ill. but stopped in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland, and Chicago.
One of the only first hand accounts of the assassination of President Lincoln is held in a vault in of the Union League house in Philadelphia.
I think I already mentioned this before in this thread, but many of the U.S. most culturally iconic individuals spent time in Philadelphia at one point or another. 17 year old Mark Twain began his career at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Thomas Edison was said to have got the idea some of his first ideas of the light bulb wondering through the crowds at the Centennial Exposition (the world's first official World's Fair). Philadelphia truly was the first "Athens of the Western World". Fun fact I learned somewhat recently, but Doc Holliday of the O.K. Corral became a dentist at school that later became part of Penn.
Oh yeah, and than there was this or this
New York has the largest deep water harbor in the world with hundreds of miles of navigable rivers channels and waterfront it also had the best access to the inland of the northeast US (Hudson River). It was destined to become the number one city in America.
Not necessarily. Baltimore had a number of geographical advantages over New York. It had better access to the agricultural areas of the South, the Caribbean, and the western frontier. Baltimore's shipping lanes were less likely to freeze over, a recurrent problem for New York and Philadelphia.
Charleston was also geographically well-suited to become a dominant city. People forget that Charleston was about the size of Boston and larger than Baltimore in 1790. Charleston, of course, floundered because of South Carolianians' unwillingness to develop a manufacturing sector and their firm commitment to a slave-based plantation economy. Same goes with New Orleans.
It's something of a mystery why New York emerged as America's largest city. Many have pointed to the construction of the Erie Canal, which connected New York to the Great Lakes, as the critical moment. Before the Erie Canal in the early 1800s, New York and Philadelphia were approximately the same size. After its construction, New York had clearly emerged as the nation's preeminent city. Philadelphia merchants would later to try to build their own canal to compete with the Erie Canal, but by that time it was too late. New York had succeeded in luring trade away from Philadelphia.
New York was not "destined to become the number one city in America." A lot of it was chance. New York merchants happened to be slightly more entrepreneurial than their counterparts in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Last edited by Frank Bones; 05-17-2015 at 10:03 AM..
It's something of a mystery why New York emerged as America's largest city. Many have pointed to the construction of the Erie Canal, which connected New York to the Great Lakes, as the critical moment. Before the Erie Canal in the early 1800s, New York and Philadelphia were approximately the same size. After its construction, New York had clearly emerged as the nation's preeminent city. Philadelphia merchants would later to try to build their own canal to compete with the Erie Canal, but by that time it was too late. New York had succeeded in luring trade away from Philadelphia.
New York was not "destined to become the number one city in America." A lot of it was chance. New York merchants happened to be slightly more entrepreneurial than their counterparts in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Erie canal certainly helped, but before the Eire canal construction, NYC was already double the size of Philadelphia. Once the city was rebuilt after the Revolutionary war, none of the cities ever came close after that.
Erie canal certainly helped, but before the Eire canal construction, NYC was already double the size of Philadelphia. Once the city was rebuilt after the Revolutionary war, none of the cities ever came close after that.
That's not entirely true though considering center city, south philly, and north philly were the second, sixth, and seventh biggest cities in the country in 1820. Making up just about 100,000. Unless NYC's outer boroughs had a population of more than 80,000 people the city was not twice the size of philadelphia until the middle of the 1830s a decade and a half after the completion of the canal. After that though no city has ever come close.
That's not entirely true though considering center city, south philly, and north philly were the second, sixth, and seventh biggest cities in the country in 1820. Making up just about 100,000. Unless NYC's outer boroughs had a population of more than 80,000 people the city was not twice the size of philadelphia until the middle of the 1830s a decade and a half after the completion of the canal. After that though no city has ever come close.
The other areas already had ~40,000 people before the canal. By 1850, Brooklyn alone was already bigger than Boston for example, while Brooklyn was much smaller in land area. I am not saying that canal didn't help, but even without it I am pretty sure NYC and its environs would still become the biggest city.
Erie canal certainly helped, but before the Eire canal construction, NYC was already double the size of Philadelphia. Once the city was rebuilt after the Revolutionary war, none of the cities ever came close after that.
Philadelphia developed along the Delaware River and not within the city limits designed by William Penn in the late 1600's. The numbers below give you a better estimate of population, since city limits during the Antebellum Era were ill-defined.
1800
1. Philadelphia 61,600
2. New York 60,500
3. Baltimore 26,500
4. Boston 24,900
5. Charleston 18,800
1820
1. New York 131,000
2. Philadelphia 109,000
3. Baltimore 62,700
4. Boston 54,000
5. Washington 28,800
1840
1. New York 374,000
2. Philadelphia 259,000
3. Boston 183,000
4. Baltimore 110,000
5. New Orleans 105,000
1860
1. New York 1,143,000
2. Philadelphia 608,000
3. Boston 374,000
4. Baltimore 221,000
5. Cincinnati 133,000
The other areas already had ~40,000 people before the canal. By 1850, Brooklyn alone was already bigger than Boston for example, while Brooklyn was much smaller in land area. I am not saying that canal didn't help, but even without it I am pretty sure NYC and its environs would still become the biggest city.
Maybe.
As the numbers above show, New York's most explosive growth occurred between 1840 and 1860. In 20 years, its population tripled. The populations of Philadelphia and Boston also doubled during the same period. Nearly all of these population gains came from Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine. New York happened to be the favored destination for Irish immigrants.
In my opinion, New York's preeminence was not assured until 1860. Philadelphia suffered a number of misfortunes during the period that inhibited its growth: the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic, losing the capital to Washington in 1800, the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, the loss of the Second National Bank (and the financial sector it attracted) in 1836. Take away just one of these and I would imagine that Philadelphia and New York would have been more evenly matched in 1860.
In my opinion, New York's preeminence was not assured until 1860. Philadelphia suffered a number of misfortunes during the period that inhibited its growth: the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic, losing the capital to Washington in 1800, the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, the loss of the Second National Bank (and the financial sector it attracted) in 1836. Take away just one of these and I would imagine that Philadelphia and New York would have been more evenly matched in 1860.
Its not like NYC didn't have its own setbacks. Imo NYC would have taken over even sooner if not for the British invasion and occupation of the city that lasted until 1782. It took years to rebuild NYC after the Revolutionary war and the great fire of 1776. Philadelphia on the other hand survived fairly intact. In addition, NYC had the great fires of 1835 and 1845, both of which destroyed several hundreds of buildings in manhattan, so its not like NYC had smooth sailing.
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