Who Governed the Nation's Cities in the "Era of the Common Man"?

If the second quarter of the nineteenth century has long been known as the "era of the common m an," it is largely because of the great political power supposedly commanded by persons of little or no property. The respected French visitor, Michel Chevalier, observing that poor men in most states had the right to vote, concluded that in the United States the propertyless masses "rule[d] the capitalists, merchants, and manufacturers." 1 It was widely assumed both here and abroad that the democratization of the suffrage had made rich men in America politically impotent. This chapter tests the accuracy of that assumption against the evidence. The wealth and standing of officeholders in New York City, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston are considered, as well as the policies of governments in these cities. The political patterns of the great northeastern cities are compared with those of small cities and towns in other parts of the country and with earlier eras, in order to place the politics of the second quarter of the nineteenth century in clearer perspective.