Morality in the Face of Commerce Between Albany and New York City

THIS IS SAM DUDLEY'S POST

In chapter eight, “River of Fortunes,” Tom Lewis writes about the men who commercialized Albany and New York City, as well as numerous Hudson Valley towns and cities between these two booming metropolises. Although the shipping industry had declined by 1861 in Hudson Valley cities, such as Hudson, the rise of the manufacturing industry preserved the commercial value Hudson Valley real estate. Iron manufacturing in Troy, Hudson, and Poughkeepsie made these cities important centers of commerce, and their inhabitants became increasingly wealthy. However, Lewis’ eighth chapter is interesting because he explains how a rift formed in 1861 between New York City and the cities located on the Hudson River North of Manhattan. Economic growth in New York City had not shown signs of decline for centuries until the prospect of disunion became reality. New York City’s barons and merchants had profited so much from their investments in the cotton trade, which was of course driven by slavery, that they forgot the principles of liberty and diversity that Manhattan was originally founded upon. New York City’s most powerful men, such as Mayor Fernando Wood, could not see the liberal motivation for fighting the South because they refused to look past their southern investments, and they thus rallied against president-elect Abraham Lincoln. On the contrary, Hudson Valley citizens living North of New York City supported Lincoln. The support of Lincoln in places like Hudson and Poughkeepsie demonstrates how vastly different the ideals of people living North of Manhattan were during this time period, which explains the moral divide between New York City and the northern Hudson Valley. While Mayor Wood spoke out against Lincoln and disregarded the moral worth of enslaved blacks, Matthew Vassar used his amassed wealth to build a college for women, who were then considered intellectually inferior to men. By chronicling the Albany-New York City leg of Lincoln’s 1861 journey to Washington, Lewis reveals a great deal about the accomplishments and well-founded priorities of those who lived on the Hudson River between New York’s two most economically prominent cities. In 1861, economics did not beget benevolence in Manhattan.