Dallas Public Library

Baltimore, a political history, Matthew A. Crenson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 519-599) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Baltimore

bibliography

951415729

Matthew A. Crenson

a political history

"People from Baltimore glory in its quirky charm, small-town character, and history of North-cum-South culture. Not every native, however, realizes that for much of the nineteenth century, as "mobtown," the city often made its case for being one of the most violent places in the country. Since the death of Freddie Gray in police custody last year, Baltimoreans and the entire nation again focus on the rich and tangled narrative of black-white relations in the city, which once offered an example of slavery existing side by side with the largest community of free blacks in the United States. A distinguished political scientist who spent much of his youth and the large part of his professional career in Baltimore here examines the politics, structure of governance, and role of racial difference in the history of Baltimore, from its founding in the mid-eighteenth century to the recent past. How do we explain its distinctive character? Matt Crenson argues that the city's longtime dependency on the general assembly for a wide variety of urban necessities--the by-charter weakness of its municipal authority--forced residents to adopt the private and extra-governmental institutions that shaped early Baltimore--leading to curious political quarrels over loose pigs, for example, but also to Baltimore's comparative radicalism during the Revolution. Meantime, whites competed with blacks, slave and free, for menial and low-skill work, and an urban elite found a way to thrive by avoiding, wherever possible, questions of slavery vs. freedom, just as, long after Civil War and emancipation, it preferred to sidestep racial controversy. Crenson thus holds up a mirror to Baltimore, asking whites in particular to re-examine the past and accept due responsibility for future racial progress."--Provided by publisher

Official town, improvised authority -- Settling -- Government in the streets -- Revolution -- Chartered city, nest of pirates -- Baltimore at war -- From town to city -- "Calamities peculiarly incident to large cities" -- Trial by combat -- Baltimore triumphant -- Public debt and internal improvements -- Working on the railroad -- Road hogs -- Creating order -- Racial borders -- Between mobs and corporations -- Pigs and politicians -- Know nothings -- American reckoning -- Baltimore in the divided nation -- City at war -- Democratic resurrection -- Ex-slaves, ex-Confederates, and the new regime -- The ring -- Fin de siecle -- Political economy -- Fire, smoke, and segregation -- Metropolitan morality -- World war and municipal conquest -- Civil service and Prohibition -- Boom to bust -- Relief, repeal, new deal -- Democratic harmony, Republican victory -- D'Alesandro and his Democrats -- I'm alright jack -- Slow motion race riot -- Racial breakdown -- Baltimore's best -- Driving the city -- Turning point -- Afterword: Not yet history

Baltimore, a political history