History of New York City (1855-1897)

The history of New York City (1855–1897) started with the inauguration in 1855 of Fernando Wood as the first mayor from Tammany Hall, an institution that would dominate the city throughout this period. Reforms led to the New York City Police Riot of June 1857. There was chaos during the American Civil War, with major rioting in the New York Draft Riots. Later years saw the rise of the Gilded Age which saw prosperity for the city's upper classes amid the further growth of a poor immigrant working class, and an increasing consolidation, both economic and municipal, of what would become the five boroughs in 1898.

Ocean-going steamships and steam railroads, developed in earlier decades, grew to take over most long distance transport, bringing an ever-increasing stream of immigration and industrialization.

The new Republican Party in the late 1850s attempted to cut the power of Mayor Fernando Wood and other pro-South Democrats by abolishing the New York City Municipal Police Department in favor of a Metropolitan Police District. Resistance resulted in the New York City Police Riot of 1857. The police being busy with their feud, the Dead Rabbits Riot between two gangs in Five Points occurred in July, lasting two days, and stopped only by intervention of the state militia. It was the worst riot up to that time. Historian Tyler Anbinder says the "Dead Rabbit" name "so captured the imagination of New Yorkers that the press continued to use it despite the abundant evidence that no such club or gang existed." Andbinder notes that, "for more than a decade, 'Dead Rabbit' became the standard phrase by which city residents described any scandalously riotous individual or group."

In wider perspective, historians such as Michael Kaplan and Elliott Gorn have argued that an intensifying highly masculine working-class male identity, fueled by saloon liquor, fostered gangs, brawling, and even homicide and rape. The emerging male code emphasized physical courage, defiance of authority, and class pride. Irish and German Immigrants brought European influences. Sexual harassment of women increased because women were more visible outside the home, as many worked in factories and shops. Women were regarded as depersonalized objects of lewd talk, and gang rapes became an opportunity for male bonding.

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