America’s Seaports: Then and Now

US History I

The origin of America’s economic prosperity can be highly attributed to its colonial seaport cities. These harbors not only brought a steady wave of immigrants to the country but produced increased amounts of wealth through industry, artistry, and commerce. Very much like the seaport cities of modern United States, colonial seaports were rich with diversity and activity. However, these seaports were teeming with turmoil as well as the cost of living skyrocketed and many different cultures and classes of people struggled to co-inhabit these areas.

In the eighteenth century, all major American cities were urban seaports. Regarded as the countries first urban centers, the largest of these were towns such as Boston, New York City, Salem, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Providence. They were the docking place for immigrants who came to the colonies in search of freedom and potential economic opportunity. When these immigrants arrived they disembarked in the heart of the hustle and bustle of these cosmopolitan seaports.

“A jumble of shops, taverns, and homes crowded the streets; the spires of churches studded their skylines. The narrow cobblestone streets of Boston and New York also challenged pedestrians, who competed for space with livestock being driven to the butcher, roaming herds of swine and packs of dogs, clattering carts, carriages, and horses” (118).

Many of these immigrants settled in the seaport cities they arrived in, immediately becoming a part of the evident social hierarchy of these areas.

Seaport cities were home to a very diverse population ranging from rich merchants to hard laborers. Though a definite distinction existed, all of the social classes were very important to colonial seaports. At the bottom of the social hierarchy, was the free and bound labor