000			04691cam a22005654a 4500
001			musev2_70846
003			MdBmJHUP
005			20240815120806.0
006			m o d
007			cr||||||||nn|n
008			191112t20191984mdu o 00 0 eng d
020			_a9781421435268
020			_z9781421435244
020			_z9780801830631
020			_z9780801830624
020			_z9781421435251
035			_a(OCoLC)1127293258
040			_aMdBmJHUP _cMdBmJHUP
100	1		_aTeaford, Jon C.
245	1	4	_aThe Unheralded Triumph : _bCity Government in America, 1870-1900 / _cJon C. Teaford.
264		1	_aBaltimore : _bJohns Hopkins University Press, _c2019
264		3	_aBaltimore, Md. : _bProject MUSE, _c2019
264		4	_c©2019
300			_a1 online resource (386 pages): _btables
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
490	0		_aJohns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ; _v102d ser. (1984)
500			_aThe text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
500			_aOpen access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.
500			_a78492
506	0		_aOpen Access _fUnrestricted online access _2star
520			_aIn 1888 the British observer James Bryce declared "the government of cities" to be "the one conspicuous failure of the United States." During the following two decades, urban reformers would repeat Bryce's words with ritualistic regularity; nearly a century later, his comment continues to set the tone for most assessments of nineteenth-century city government. Yet by the end of the century, as Jon Teaford argues in this important reappraisal, American cities boasted the most abundant water supplies, brightest street lights, grandest parks, largest public libraries, and most efficient systems of transportation in the world. Far from being a "conspicuous failure," municipal governments of the late nineteenth century had successfully met challenges of an unprecedented magnitude and complexity. The Unheralded Triumph draws together the histories of the most important cities of the Gilded Age--especially New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Baltimore--to chart the expansion of services and the improvement of urban environments between 1870 and 1900. It examines the ways in which cities were transformed, in a period of rapid population growth and increased social unrest, into places suitable for living. Teaford demonstrates how, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, municipal governments adapted to societal change with the aid of generally compliant state legislatures. These were the years that saw the professionalization of city government and the political accommodation of the diverse ethnic, economic, and social elements that compose America's heterogeneous urban society. Teaford acknowledges that the expansion of urban services dangerously strained city budgets and that graft, embezzlement, overcharging, and payroll-padding presented serious problems throughout the period. The dissatisfaction with city governments arose, however, not so much from any failure to achieve concrete results as from the conflicts between those hostile groups accommodated within the newly created system: "For persons of principle and gentlemen who prized honor, it seemed a failure yet American municipal government left as a legacy such achievements as Central Park, the new Croton Aqueduct, and the Brooklyn Bridge, monuments of public enterprise that offered new pleasures and conveniences for millions of urban citizens."
588			_aDescription based on print version record.
650		7	_aGemeindeverwaltung _2gnd
650		7	_aStadtverwaltung _2gnd
650		7	_aMunicipal services. _2fast _0(OCoLC)fst01029431
650		7	_aMunicipal government. _2fast _0(OCoLC)fst01029299
650		6	_aServices municipaux _zÉtats-Unis _xHistoire _y19e siecle.
650		6	_aAdministration municipale _zÉtats-Unis _xHistoire _y19e siecle.
650		0	_aMunicipal services _zUnited States _xHistory _y19th century.
650		0	_aMunicipal government _zUnited States _xHistory _y19th century.
651		7	_aUSA _2gnd
651		7	_aUnited States. _2fast _0(OCoLC)fst01204155
655		7	_aHistory. _2fast _0(OCoLC)fst01411628
655		7	_aElectronic books. _2local
710	2		_aProject Muse. _edistributor
830		0	_aBook collections on Project MUSE.
856	4	0	_zFull text available: _uhttps://muse.jhu.edu/book/70846/
999			_c232944 _d232943