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Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America 1625-1742
From the Preface: Today more than half of all Americans make their homes in cities, and the ease of modern transportation causes the lives of many more to be affected by town conditions. Our national history has been that of transition from a predominantly rural and agricultural way of living to one in which the city plays a major role. Both materially and psychologically urban factors govern much of American life.
- GenresHistoryAmerican History
500 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
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About the author
Carl Bridenbaugh
73 books2 followersCarl Bridenbaugh was an American historian who specialized in colonial America. Bridenbaugh is best known for his two major books on colonial cities:
Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America 1625-1742
and
Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America, 1743-1776
.
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October 11, 2025This book is going in my book shelf next to 'Changes in the Land' by William Cronon and 'Everyday Life in Early America' by David Freeman Hawke, books that cover Colonial America from a demographic point of view. Cities of the Wilderness focuses on the cities of Boston, Newport (RI), New York, Philadelphia and Charleston (SC).
To summarize, Bridenbaugh divides the colonial period into three phases. The first 1625 (the founding of new amsterdam/york) to 1690. During this period, these coastal locations were the most logical meeting point for over seas trade. They weren't much more than towns or big towns.
The second phase, 1690 - 1720, these towns grew with a large enough towns-people that a cultural division began to emerge between the urban and rural populations, craftsman and farmer. This reminded me of Carol Berkin's description of the Salem Witch Trials (1692) in her book 'First Generations'. She describes a town/rural divisions between the accusers and accused during the trials.
The final phase, 1721 - 1742, Bridenbaugh argues that the colonial cities had shown 'full maturity', with a city like Boston being the British Empire's third city, below London and Bristol. The colonial cities were constantly looking east across the sea toward their trading partners and were eager to adopt new European trends. Only one year after the incorporation of the first insurance companies at London that one appeared in Philadelphia, their economic complexity as on par.
The book goes in to all the tedious detail of colonial urban life you might desire, from market days to fire control to sanitation codes. If you ever wished you were the fly on the wall of a city council meeting for four hundred years ago, this is the book for you.
Overall though, the book points to the medieval economic traditions the colonists brought with them. Guilds, price controls and granting monopoly powers to individuals are all traditions that these settler brought with them. In this age of mercantilism, colonial leaders took an active role shaping economic structures of the community.
These emerging colonial cities had some unique differences from their European counterparts. The Town Meeting, in places like New England, was unique in it's ability for the public to have access of addressing issues of concern. Unlike Europeans, the colonials towns were much more strict about observing the Sabbath. Overall, these colonial towns/cities were much more charitable for poor relieve, except New York. Providing poor relief did create public grievances of bastard children, because tax payers would be obligated to care for them. Because of their concern for caring for their all the inhabitants, during the 1730s, Boston took an anti-immigrant stance because of an influx of the poor. The city declined economically, while New York and Philadelphia began to surpass Boston economically with their influx of Scotch-Irish and German (Palatine) immigrants. The city's in Bridenbaugh's last phase show class division as well as different religious/ethnic groups within these cities. Those are some of the interesting things I learned in the book.
As colonial America is probably the least studied of all parts of American history, there's a lot of unfamiliarity between the Thanks Giving Pilgrims and The American Revolution. This book really cobbles together the slow and steady evolution of early American society through the urban lens.
To summarize, Bridenbaugh divides the colonial period into three phases. The first 1625 (the founding of new amsterdam/york) to 1690. During this period, these coastal locations were the most logical meeting point for over seas trade. They weren't much more than towns or big towns.
The second phase, 1690 - 1720, these towns grew with a large enough towns-people that a cultural division began to emerge between the urban and rural populations, craftsman and farmer. This reminded me of Carol Berkin's description of the Salem Witch Trials (1692) in her book 'First Generations'. She describes a town/rural divisions between the accusers and accused during the trials.
The final phase, 1721 - 1742, Bridenbaugh argues that the colonial cities had shown 'full maturity', with a city like Boston being the British Empire's third city, below London and Bristol. The colonial cities were constantly looking east across the sea toward their trading partners and were eager to adopt new European trends. Only one year after the incorporation of the first insurance companies at London that one appeared in Philadelphia, their economic complexity as on par.
The book goes in to all the tedious detail of colonial urban life you might desire, from market days to fire control to sanitation codes. If you ever wished you were the fly on the wall of a city council meeting for four hundred years ago, this is the book for you.
Overall though, the book points to the medieval economic traditions the colonists brought with them. Guilds, price controls and granting monopoly powers to individuals are all traditions that these settler brought with them. In this age of mercantilism, colonial leaders took an active role shaping economic structures of the community.
These emerging colonial cities had some unique differences from their European counterparts. The Town Meeting, in places like New England, was unique in it's ability for the public to have access of addressing issues of concern. Unlike Europeans, the colonials towns were much more strict about observing the Sabbath. Overall, these colonial towns/cities were much more charitable for poor relieve, except New York. Providing poor relief did create public grievances of bastard children, because tax payers would be obligated to care for them. Because of their concern for caring for their all the inhabitants, during the 1730s, Boston took an anti-immigrant stance because of an influx of the poor. The city declined economically, while New York and Philadelphia began to surpass Boston economically with their influx of Scotch-Irish and German (Palatine) immigrants. The city's in Bridenbaugh's last phase show class division as well as different religious/ethnic groups within these cities. Those are some of the interesting things I learned in the book.
As colonial America is probably the least studied of all parts of American history, there's a lot of unfamiliarity between the Thanks Giving Pilgrims and The American Revolution. This book really cobbles together the slow and steady evolution of early American society through the urban lens.
Displaying 1 of 1 review