ABSTRACT
In the decades following 1820, Americans confronted a period of time in which social optimism was blended with a growing sense of fear and disenchant ment. This disenchantment stemmed from the rising number of cities that were marked by high population density, vice, and disorder. Though the idea of freedom and liberty for all was cherished and revered, in reality, it proved to be something of a nemesis. For example, it was reported that Bostonians were afraid “lest the sea of ignorance which lies around us, swollen by the wave of misery and vice which is pouring from revolutionized Europe upon our shores, should overflow the dikes of liberty and justice, and sweep away the most precious of our institutions” (Charles Elliott Norton, quoted in Vale, 2000: 60). Racism peaked, communities became stratified, and crime and vice persisted (Pessen, 1969). Popular thought suggested that crime perhaps was not so easily eradicated. Legal reforms based on the notion of free will seemed ineffectual in the face of what came to be viewed as a moral and social disease. In short, crime became viewed as a product of a disorganized and evil city environment.
