Modern Boston History Exam

Week 1.2 History 385 - !1

Week 1.2 The Early 19th Century History 385

Julie de Chantal

In this lecture, we will look into how Boston evolved in the early 1800s. We will first look at how the First Industrial Revolution transformed the city. After recovering from the War for Independence, Boston spent the first half of the nineteenth century reviving its commercial economy. The First Industrial revolution pushes Boston toward its position as a large industrialized urban center.

First Industrial Revolution The First Industrial Revolution was widespread. It took place in Europe, the United States, Canada, and even Japan. This revolution stemmed from the invention of Scottish inventor James Watt’s steam engine in 1781. With Watt’s engine, people could operate any type of machinery, be it trains, textile mills, or even boats.

In that sense, the steam engine allowed for the mechanization of many tasks that had previously been done by humans or animals. Instead of having an animal pull a wagon, you have a locomotive doing so. Instead of a human moving the different parts of a loom, you have a machine doing so. Multiple industries developed because of the steam engine: Textile, iron, chemical industry (cement, gas lighting, glass making, paper). Even agriculture and mining were transformed by the invention of the steam engine. New modes of transportation were invented or developed on a larger scale (canals, trains).

Let’s come back to the textile industry which is one of the major forces behind the industrialization of New England and has Boston at the center of it.

Textile Industry In order to trigger the Industrial revolution in the city, Bostonians needed several factors connecting at the same time. • they needed the capital necessary to invest in the latest technologies. (As you can remember

printing, artisan work, and slavery all helped Bostonians make a fortune) • they needed the advances in technology.

The textile industry followed a precise model prior to the 1800s. • Cotton was grown in the South of the United States. It was then shipped directly to England

to be processed in mills in Birmingham and other cities. • Then the fabric was shipped back to centers like Boston, New York, or to the South where

tailors purchased it to make clothes. • Finished garments were also sent directly to the consumers in the United States.

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Cotton was one of the main exports out of England in the 18th and early 19th centuries with a share of 80% of all exportations. However, to be usable, the fibers had to be removed from the seeds, which was hard and labor intensive. The small pieces could cut and one could bleed on the cotton. It required a lot of attention and a crew dedicated only to that task. Ultimately, the process limited the quantity that a planter could grow during the season.

Until the 1790s, cotton from the United States is really difficult to process. For that reason, textile makers were buying increasingly from India and Egypt where growers were already able to grow long staples (slide 8, picture on the right). That cotton was easier to process and considered of better quality. The United States growers almost only grew the short staples (slide 8, picture on the left) which was less soft and seen as of less quality. It was obviously good enough to make common fabrics, which were used on a daily basis, but not for fancy garments. With the limitation on production, American growers were at a disadvantage in the global economy.

Eli Whitney, who was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, invented the cotton gin in 1793, which mechanized the process. He had visited Georgia and saw the difficulties in processing cotton. He came up with the invention to help the growers make more money.

The machine consisted of a wooden drum with hooks, which pulled the cotton through a mesh. The mesh was small enough so that the seeds would not be able to pass through, hence would be removed. A single machine was able to process nearly 55 pounds of cotton a day.

The cotton gin had three effects: • it allowed cotton growers to produce long fiber cotton which they could not before due to the

manual processing • they could extend the production since they were not slowed down by processing • the growing the production ultimately led to the expansion of slavery.

This in and of itself was not enough however to trigger the emergence of the textile industry in the United States.

Lack of relationship with England As I mentioned earlier, throughout the 18th century, cotton produced in the South was shipped to England for processing. English manufacturers sent back fabric which was then used by American tailors to make clothing. With the taxes that England imposed on the colonies prior to the Revolutionary war, Americans started to boycott imports of English goods (for example tea or sugar).

They also boycotted English fabrics. Colonists, especially women, began to produce homespun fabrics. They used the act of spinning as a political demonstration. Once the Revolution is over though, they return to buying from English merchants. Things, however, got a bit complicated.

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Following the Revolutionary war, Americans positioned the country as a neutral nation. They did not want to get involved in international affairs since they wanted to focus on build the nation first. Furthermore, most of the other nations were Empires (remember that the United States is the first Republic, and that Western European countries are monarchies at the time). To American politicians, it seemed a little hypocritical if not contradictory, as a former colony, to get involved in imperialist pursuits or in the affairs of other nations.

Soon after the Revolution, though, Europe begins yet another war. When Napoleon becomes the First Consul of France in 1799, he sees himself as an emperor who should reign over Europe. Between 1803 and 1815, he enters a war with several countries in Europe due to their alliances with France’s enemies. Great Britain finance some of the war until Napoleon decides to attack the British Navy.

As a result, between 1803 and 1815, both Great Britain and France began to seize cargo from US ships as contraband and even forced United States shipmen to join their navy. Remember that the United States had positioned themselves as a neutral nation who wanted to be able to have commercial relationships with any nation.

As a response, the United States enacted provisions to force Great Britain to respect US neutrality and sovereignty, and to stop forcing US sailors into the Royal Navy.

The Non-Importation Act of 1806 Prevents merchants from importing certain goods from England: • All articles of which leather, silk, hemp, flax, tin (except in sheets), or brass was the material

of chief value • All woolen clothes whose invoice prices shall exceed 5/- sterling per square yard, Woolen

hosiery of all kinds, Window, glass and glassware, Silver and plated goods, Paper, Nails, Spikes,Hats, Ready-made clothing, Playing cards, Beer, ale and porter, Pictures and prints

It was an attempt to make money talk instead of intervening militarily, which would not be to the advantage of the United States. The fines for importation were of three times the value of the cargo imported.

It exempted some cheap articles which were the most important ones for both the merchants and the buyers. -> for example cast iron, cheap woolen articles, steel, iron, etc. Some of them could not be made in the country at the time.

Overall, US politicians hoped that the bill would change the ways in which Britain was acting with the least amount of annoyance to the American people. The enforcement was delayed from April to November 1806 when commerce would be lower due to winter and would bother the least amount people. It was overall a weak threat, and was seen as such.

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When they began enforcing the act, in mid-1807, the politicians realized that the bill was badly worded and did not address common situations. They repealed the act and replaced it with the Embargo Act of 1807.

The Embargo Act of 1807 It only took 4 days to rush it through Congress. Introduced on December 18, passed the Senate on the 18th (Friday), Passed the House of Representatives on December 21 (Monday), and signed on December 22, 1807

The embargo was against both France and Great Britain: • placed an embargo on all ships and vessels under U.S. jurisdiction • prevented all ships and vessels from obtaining clearance to undertake in voyages to foreign

ports or places, • allowed the President of the United States to make exceptions for vessels under his

immediate direction

Unfortunately, the embargo had very little impact on Great Britain’s commerce. British merchants re-appropriated the routes that the US merchants had previously had. The act also led to an increase in smuggling by merchants who saw the embargo as a violation of their rights. Merchants, especially in ports of importance like Boston became extremely creative in going around the law to fulfill their “customers’ needs.” For example, they shared ship ownership so that the ships were not British anymore but came from “somewhere else.” They could also stop in neutral ports to say that they did not stop in a British port for example. Once they had the goods, it was also a game of cat and mouse to be able to sell them in the city without detection. They could also pay custom officials for them to turn a blind eye on their merchandise or ships.

Overall, the embargo failed to accomplish its mission. It was unpopular, and did not do much to stop Britain from acting the way that it did. However, it had another unintended consequence.

Merchants who could no longer continue their business relationships with British merchants due to the Embargo and the War of 1812, turned to the emerging industrial power of the nation to make the goods that they needed at home.

Boston’s Textile Industry In 1814, the Boston Manufacturing Company combined the cash flow that it had, the hydraulic power of the Charles River, and the need for homemade fabric, to build a fully integrated mill on the Charles River in Waltham. Francis Cabot Lowell (for whom the city of Lowell will be named) had traveled to England prior to the Embargo and had visited some of the textile mills in Manchester, England. He used the details that he remembered to build the company. With the help of his three brothers-in-law, he received backing from other investors and decided on Waltham as the location. The mill was the first integrated mill in the United States.

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Vertical Integration Lowell used a vertical integration model in the mill. It is a model which was fairly common in the later part of the 19th century. It addressed all of the operations from treating the raw cotton, to spinning, then weaving, up to the finish cloth that was shipped to retailers. The mill also had the first power loom ever used in the United States. The company changed the ways in which work was done in the United States.

Prior to the industrialization, workers either worked in the fields (remember that the nation is still mostly agricultural) or from small shops either attached to or within their homes. Artisans trained apprentices who eventually opened their own shops or took over their master’s business. Large scale industries were relatively rare.

The mill brought a new style of work: It helped create the American working-class.

The mill hired women and children to do the work due to their size. (you have to remember that, according to the precepts of the time, women are not supposed to be working outside the house.) Since the American revolution, Americans reinforced the idea of separate gender roles which put men in the public sphere (which includes work and the political arena) and women in the private sphere (home, church, family). This is especially true in New England where people had money and could afford to have their wife stay at home. These gender roles were seen as the standard of true femininity by people of all classes.

In this case, the model deviates from the standard but will find ways to ensure that women’s virtue is protected through different systems. For example, the mill girls lived in boarding houses provided by the company, so in a controlled environment where they were supervised by older women. They were subject to strict codes of conduct. They had to be in by a certain time of day, they had to wear certain clothing, they also could not get visitors from the opposite sex.

These workers worked approximately eighty hours per week. The workers would wake to the factory bell at 4:40 in the morning, would report to work at 5:00 and have a half-hour breakfast break at 7:00 a.m. They would then work until the half-hour- to forty-five-minute lunch break at noon. At 7:00 p.m. the factory would shut down and the workers would return to their company houses. This routine was followed six days a week.

This system became known as the Waltham System. Although the hours are long, they were not uncommon. People did not feel particularly exploited by their employers.

Due to the availability of jobs, people even left the city to go live in the areas surrounding industries like the Boston Manufacturing Company. Some left farming jobs to join this march toward progress.

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During that period, the population of Boston continued to grow quite rapidly. Both natural reproduction and immigration were at play here.

Due to the booming industry, the population grew quite quickly in the city • 1800 -> 24,937 • 1810 -> 33,787 • 1820 -> 43,298 • 1830 -> 61,392 • 1840 -> 93,383

With the development of its industry, Boston became a highly stratified city and the social classes became much more rigid. People could not easily climb the ladder and there was a lot of discrimination in the city.

Let’s look at the different groups that live in the city • Yankee (White, Anglo Saxon, Protestants)

• English • Scotch-Irish • German (really small number who did not speak German as a first language

anymore)

Within the Yankees, the upper class is called the Boston Brahmins. The name came from the highest ranking caste in India. The Brahmins are the social and cultural elite of Boston. They are also part of the East Coast “establishment” if you will. They have connections with New York and Philadelphia elites. What characteristics do they have in common ? • They have the Boston Brahmin Accent - > posh accent, drop the Rs, the As and Os are long,

more British accent if you will. Think John F. Kennedy in terms of his accent • They are trained in preparatory schools and men go to Harvard. • They have traditional Anglo-American traditions, customs, and clothing. • A large number of descendants of the Mayflower and the Arbella, the ship which took John

Winthrop and the Pilgrims to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. • As close as gentry as one can get in the United States. Remember that colonists did not

reproduced the social structure seen in England • Long standing families in Boston: Adams, Appleton, Cabot, Coffin, Cushing, Dudley, Eliot,

Emerson, Endicott, Forbes, Holmes, Lawrence, Lodge, Lowell, Otis, Peabody, Quincy, Thayer, Tudor, Warren, Winthrop. A number of original Brahmin families (Ervings, Winslows, Clarks, Lloyds) were loyalists during the American Revolution. Because of their allegiance, they were banished from the state. Some went to Canada while others had their sentence commuted and were allowed to stay in Boston. Those were sentenced to house arrest.

• The Brahmins practice endogamy. They marry within their own circles, and seldom will marry from families who are either not established in the city or outside of their elite status. For example John Adams married his third cousin Abigail Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge whom

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we will see later is the issue of the union of two families, through the marriage of John Ellerton Lodge & Anna Cabot, Ralph Waldo Emerson married Lydia Jackson, member of another Brahmin Family

• Through their connections and their own personal achievement, the Brahmins are the ones who rule the city, the State, and even the federal government. They occupy prestigious positions (lawyers, judges, etc) and their prestige is transmitted to their children. The children are groomed to occupy similar positions in the social structure. Their class status is reproduced that way.

Gender Roles in the Brahmins As I mentioned in the 1.0 lecture, the Puritans had reproduced the gender roles that they had envisioned as being best for the new colony. Men were in charge of public and religious affairs. Women were in charge of the private sphere. As I mentioned earlier, the new industry challenges the strict separation of spheres. At the time, however, only those of the upper classes were able to afford having their wives at home.

In the early 19th century, the separate spheres idea is embodied in the ideology of the Republican Mother. The idea is extremely important in the Brahmin circles as it is part of the Nation building project. What is the Republican mother? The republican mother upholds morality in the family. She is the custodian of civic virtue and ensures that her children and husband are following the right path. Because mothers have to train their children in being the citizens of tomorrow, Brahmin mothers will be more educated than rural and working-class women.

Working Class With the industrialization also comes the development of a working-class, proletariat if you will, from a Marxist perspective. The working-class, in this case, does not own any means of production. They depend on the industry to earn wages. The Boston working-class at this point is still mainly Anglo Saxon protestant. For the most part, the early Boston working-class is relatively literate.

These workers often came to the city through indentured servitude, a system in which an employer payed for the trip to the colony. The indentured servant committed to 5 to 7 years of work to repay the employer. Near slavery but not quite. If the person comes upon a large sum of money, they can buy their way out of their contract. Most of the indentured servants who came to the colony had a clause in their contract forcing them to adopt the religious practices of their employers. These policies, the rise of income in Europe, and the decrease in ship fare to the Americas reduced the need for such contracts and made long term commitments less appealing. After the American Revolution, the number of indentured servants diminishes. The end of imprisonment for those who owed debts limited the ways in which the employers could enforce the contracts.

In Massachusetts, the rise of the working class in the very early 19th century (1800) depended on immigration and on the sons and daughters of farmers leaving the family farm to work in the

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city. That being said, the working-class is not bound to the industry only. A number of people are hired as domestic servants and house personnel for Boston’s wealthy families.

Limited Political Rights Political rights (especially the vote), in the early 19th century, were linked to one’s ownership of property. Most members of the working-class did not own property hence political rights remain in the hands of the elite and the middle-class.

In 1782, the State of Massachusetts levied a poll tax on voters to reduce the number of voters. (there is a fear that the political system could be taken hostage by the masses). In 1790, the state imposed a residence requirement. Voters needed to have lived in the town in which they wanted to vote for at least three years. In the early 1800s, the requirements stopped being enforced to some extent. The property requirement, set at 60 pounds was instead calculated to be fulfilled if someone earned more than 3 pounds a year (most people could earn that). In 1820, the State amended its constitution again to reflect its concerns about the working class. The state introduced taxpayer suffrage: you could only vote if you paid tax to the city -> if you were a home owner. It disqualified working class folks who rented an apartment or a home. Some apprentices and farm laborers were able to vote if they had the right connections

With these restrictions, the % of male voters in the state of Massachusetts went from to • 23% in 1780 with 16,235 voters for a population of 70,000 • to 11% in 1786 with 8,231 voters for a population of 76,240 • to 32% in 1800 with 31,001 voters for a population of 94,790 • and up to 42% in 1820 with 53,297 for a population of 124,671

The ballot is still was voiced ballot, not a secret ballot which is seen as cowardly. There was still a fear of the industrials taking over the political system. Josiah Quincy III (mayor from 1823 to 1828) argued that the qualification was NOT intended to protect the rich against the poor but the poor against the pauper. He had foreseen the rise of a larger working-class who would be more and more impoverished as time passed and wanted to protect everyone against them. He feared that the employers would send their employees to the polls, that the employees would vote the way that their employers would tell them to vote and that they would favor the industry.

From this point on, tensions rose from a political stand point between the Brahmins and the working-class. However, this it is not yet a division based on ethnicity like we’ll see later in the century. It is not Yankee vs Irish. It is Yankee vs Yankee for the most part.

Irish Irish Protestants (The Scots-Irish or the Ulster Irish) came to the United States in the early 18th century, so early 1700s. The first Irish Protestants who came were indentured servant. They needed to leave Ireland due to a combination of high rents, bad weather, crop failure, and animal diseases. At the same time some Irish Catholics migrated to the United States, but had to hide

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their religion since Catholicism was banned in the Colony. Because of the social structures in Boston and of the known prejudice of the Yankee, most of the Irish Catholics who move to the United States avoid Boston like the plague.

During the Revolution, the fact that the United States were allied with France changed the attitude of some Bostonians toward Catholics. Yet, a number of Harvard trained historians still argued that prior to 1830, there are no Irish Catholics in the city at all. The first Catholic parish was established in the West End in 1788. It was a mainly French parish. In 1790, the first Catholic priest arrived in Boston

John Thayer was a Bostonian who had been born to staunch Congregational Brahmin parents. He attended Yale, then traveled to France and to Italy. He converted to Catholicism while in Europe. In 1787, he was ordained priest, and returned to America. With the arrival of Thayer, the Irish Catholics who had been discrete about their faith, brought their children to be baptized and their Protestant marriages to be solemnized at the church.

Between 1789 and 1796, names like Callahan, Cavanagh, Doherty, Doyle, Driscoll, Duggan, Fitzpatrick, Kenny, Lynch, Mahoney, McCarthy, O’Brien, O’Donnell,Ryan, Sullivan, and Walsh are in the city directory. The first Irish Catholics recognized as such are blacksmiths, sea captains, coopers, chimney sweeps, rental property owner, merchants, book sellers, school teachers, lemon dealers, tea sellers, liquor dealers. As you can see, most were well established, literate, and held respectable middle class jobs. They were living almost incognito among their fellow Englishmen, and followed local customs.

They passed as Irish Protestants for the most part. They attended the Anglican Church since it resembled the Catholic Church the most (the Anglican church was created because of Henry VIII’s disagreement with the pope about divorce, not about doctrine). In 1790, 500 people are recognized as Irish Catholics in the city register. In 1803, the Irish had raised enough money to build their own church, The Church of the Holy Cross on Franklin Street in the heart of Boston. We can see a sign that the Irish Catholic population grew rapidly when Pope Pius forms the Catholic diocese of Boston on April 8, 1808.

A Diocese is a Catholic administrative unit which is under the supervision of a bishop. Within a diocese, you have parishes which are usually either small towns, or neighborhoods supervised by a priest. In this sense, the Catholic Diocese of Boston now covered all of New England, which was under the Diocese of Baltimore before. (Maryland was founded as a Catholic colony) As soon as the diocese is founded, Catholics will start publishing The Pilot in 1829, which became the source of news for Boston’s Irish Catholics intelligentia.

Politically speaking Politically speaking, the rank and file Irish Catholics quickly aligned with Thomas Jefferson’s party, the Republican-Democrats. There are a few reasons for this:

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• Jefferson’s party opposed Great Britain with the Embargo, and other policies • It separated the Church and the State giving Catholics more freedom • they opposed the Federalists who reminded the Irish of the gentry at home.

Some of the Catholic inteligencia, as well as Father Matignon (the first French priest), and Bishop Cheverus, supported the federalist party because the Republican Party reminded them of the Republican push in Europe. It is particularly surprising considering that the Federalists made it more difficult for immigrants to become citizens and to vote.

So, there is no real political cohesion on the basis of national origins yet. That being said, we will have to wait until 1840-1845 to see the majority of Irish Catholics arriving following the potato famine.

Small but strong Black population in the city During the same period, another small but important community grew in Boston -> the Black community. It is an extremely important community, as we will see in the upcoming weeks due to the position that they occupied in the fight for the freedom struggle in the antebellum period (before the Civil War), after the Civil War, and throughout the first part of the 20th century.

As we will see in the upcoming lectures, Black Bostonians played an important role in the abolition movement so for that reason, I will only brush on their history in this lecture.

Historians have found records of freed Black people already living in Boston in 1643. For the most part, these slaves had been brought from Africa or the Caribbean during the Pequot war of 1637. By the Revolution, most had been freed by their owners. Some had been freed following the expiration of their contracts, which resembled those of indentured servants. They had to work for 5 to 7 years and then could receive their freedom.

Until the 1660s, slavery was not a hereditary condition and their children were seen as free people, despite the status of their parents. After the 1660s, this changes and slavery is considered to be hereditary through the mother’s line.

Boston’s freed people sometimes became slave owners themselves. By the time of the Revolution, historians have records that show that Boston slaves had already used the court system to sue their masters for their freedom. They had used the court system, often representing themselves, which shows a certain level of understanding of their rights and of the legal system in the United States.

At the time of the Revolution, Massachusetts is in a difficult position in terms of its relationship to slavery. On one hand, some Boston merchants made a lot of money out of the trade (remember that the trade was abolished in 1808 only). On the other, slavery was incompatible with the principles of the Revolution. Black men, for example, could only enlist as soldiers in the Continental Army if they were free. To Massachusetts officers, enlisting slaves was seen as a

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dishonor to the colony. After all, Massachusetts was freedom’s cradle or freedom’s birthplace, right?

At the turn of the century nineteenth century, the Black community lives in the North End which was nicknamed New Guinea. Around 1820, members of the Black community moved slowly to the West End, on the other side of Beacon Hill where the Brahmins lived. The reason why they lived on the hill is simple and pragmatic, they were at arms length of their employers. Most worked as domestic servants, butlers, or manual laborers and were employed by the wealthy families. Living on the hill was convenient because they could pass by the market or fetch anything that the family needed on the way home or to work if they were not live-in servants. Other members of the community worked at the docks and lived in the West End also because it was close to their work.

At no point in Boston’s history is there a law that discriminates against Black Bostonians in terms of housing or work. However, racism makes it such that the discrimination is there no matter what. White owners do not want to rent to Black renters. They tolerate their presence in terms of services -> for example as their domestics, but not as equals for the most part. Black residents lived in segregated homes, worked in jobs reserved for Black people, and had very few opportunities to climb the socioeconomic ladder.

Between 1800 and 1830, however, Boston saw the emergence of a small Black elite. On a side note, when we consider the Black elite anywhere in the United States, we have to remember that the parameters that we use to describe the white elite cannot be used to describe the black elite. Let’s take a second to think this through. How do we describe the white elite? Money, an advanced degree, profession, power in the city, they have connections. African Americans were prevented from accessing certain professions, they could not always access education due to segregation, they had very little representation if any until the 1980s in Boston, and they could not live wherever they want. In some cases, being literate can propel someone at the top of their community. It is important to think about those aspects when we consider who is part of the elite and who is not

So, from 1800 to 1830, we see the emergence of a small Black elite. These people had access to a certain level of education, navigated white political circles, and built themselves a reputation as representatives of their community. They share the values, customs, and habits of the Yankees. They attend church with them, dress in a similar way, eat the same foods (this will become even more of a marker of status in the later part of the century). Because they are so few until the Civil War (there are less than 2000 African Americans in Boston), they have virtually no political representation, even if they have the vote. They did not have enough people in a ward to vote-in their own representatives. Most of the time, white politicians represented them. For the most part, they allied themselves with the Yankee to gain any kind of political power in the city.

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Boom in building and construction After the Revolution, the State needed a new state house. The Old State House that had been built in 1713 housed the Merchant’s Exchange on the first floor, and warehouses in the basement. The second floor was reserved for the chambers of the Courts of Suffolk and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It was rebuilt in 1748 after a fire destroyed most of it in 1747. The Old State House became the seat of the state government between 1776 and 1798. It then becomes City Hall between 1830 and 1841.

The Boston of Charles Bulfinch When time came to build the State House, Charles Bulfinch was asked to draw the plans. Charles Bulfinch was born in Boston, educated at Boston Latin then Harvard (Brahmin). He had traveled to Europe between 1785 and 1787. At the time, he studied the architecture of classical buildings in Italy and neoclassical buildings in the UK. During his trip in Europe, he was mentored by Thomas Jefferson who was posted in Europe as a diplomat.

When he came back to America, Bullfinch served from 1791 to 1795 on Boston's board of selectmen. (the board of 9 selectmen was elected at large for a period of 1 year each term) He resigned in 1795 due to the number of contracts that he had to handle but comes back in 1799. From 1799 to 1817, he was the chairman of Boston's board of selectmen continuously. Simultaneously, he served as a paid Police Superintendent, and worked at improving the city's streets, drains, and lighting. Under his direction, both the infrastructure and civic center of Boston were transformed. He was influenced by the European classical style and used it a lot. He was also obsessed with tunnels and attached them to almost all of the buildings that he created.

His first construction in was the Hollis Street Church in 1788. He also built the Old State House in Hartford Connecticut. He then constructed the Massachusetts State House in 1798. The building’s dome, finished in 1802 leaked. Paul Revere resolved the issue by rolling copper sheets over top of it. It not only fixed the leaks, but created the landmark image of the building. To prevent corrosion, the dome was painted grey at first, then later was painted light yellow. The gold color that we know today came from the gold leaves put on it for the first time in 1874. The Senators, State Representatives, and Governor still conduct the daily business of the Commonwealth under that dome. A gilded wooden pinecone adorns the top of the dome to represent the states logging industry in the 18th century. In subsequent years, he redesigned the Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, and later Boylston Market. He experienced some financial difficulties throughout his life and was imprisoned for debt in the very prison that he had designed in 1803. Later in his life, he became the Commissioner of Public Building in Washington, and was the architect who ultimately completed the construction of the Capitol, 36 years after the beginning of the construction.

The construction of the state house created a need for local residences. The Mount Vernon Proprietors, a real estate development syndicate operating in Boston, began the construction of a fashionable residential district around Beacon Hill. (Bullfinch was a partner in the company). They purchased land from John Singleton Copley, a painter, who lived in England at the time.

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The developers literally reduced the size of hill, on which the city beacon was located, to construct residences for wealthy businessmen and retired sea captains. During the leveling, the hill was reduced from 138 feet to 80 feet. The state house sits on top of the reduced hill. This period is the era of the planned community.

Railroad The reduction of the hill and the construction of the State House required development of new construction technologies. In 1795, the construction crews built a wooden railway with horse drawn carts on Beacon Hill to bring the soil away from the hill. In 1799, the Mount Vernon developers used a similar strategy. Silas Whitney built a gravity railroad to move the excavated materials down the hill to fill the marsh area, which created the Back Bay.

Similar railways will be constructed through the years. The Granite Railway for example was built to bring granite from Quincy to a dock on the Naponset River in Milton. From there, boats carried the stone to Charlestown to construct the Bunker Hill Monument. The Granite Railway is considered the first commercial railroad in the United States.

Growth of the city As you can see in the maps on Slides 54 and 55, during this period, Bostonians fill in the different parts of land around the Shawmut peninsula. As the city’s population expands, so does the city itself. However, as you can imagine, the growth of the city brought new issues that city officials needed to address.

Development of the city infrastructure and city code Frequent fires destroyed part of the city at different points in history. There were 15 of them between 1702 and 1794. Those fires usually destroyed more than 100 buildings at a time. They were also part of the reason as to why Bulfinch could leave such a mark on the city. He had to replace a number of constructions that had been destroyed. In response to these fires, the General Court (the House and Senate of the State) required by law in 1803 that all buildings in Boston exceeding 10 feet in height be built of stone or brick and be covered with slate, tile, and other non combustible materials. As the city grew, city leaders also develop the infrastructure necessary to serve the population.

Sewers Boston had been using sewers since before 1700. At the time though, the system was used for water only (flooded cellars, yards, and streets). In 1833, sanitary waste was finally allowed into the system. However, the system was not really efficient. In 1834 the city encouraged Bostonians to use rainwater to assist in the flushing of sanitary waste (urine and feces). That did not help and health issues surfaced. The city faced epidemics of typhoid, dysentery, and cholera. This continued throughout the 19th century up to 1875 when the Boston main drainage system was constructed.

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Water Boston's early settlers relied on cisterns, wells, and a spring on Boston Common for their water. However, as the city grew, this supply was inadequate and the quality often poor. The first attempt to provide an alternative came from private suppliers who, in 1796, began delivering water from Jamaica Pond through a system of wooden pipes. But as the City grew in size as well as in population, City planners began to look towards the western part of the state for a more abundant water supply. In 1848, the city obtained the first municipal water supply from Long Pond (Now called Lake Cochituate), 19 miles west of Boston

Conclusions The first 25 years of the 19th century mark the entry of Boston into the Modern times. City officials understand their role in terms of development of infrastructure, residential buildings, and services. Although there are tensions, the homogenous nature of the city reduces these tensions to individual ones. However, we can see the emergence of groups who will ultimately change the face of the city.