In an effort to create a secure urban environment in which
residents can work, live, and prosper with minimal disruption, New
York and London established a network of laws, policing, and
municipal government in the nineteenth century aimed at building
the confidence of the citizenry and creating stability for economic
growth. At the same time, these two world cities attempted to
maintain an expansive level of free speech and assembly, concepts
deeply ingrained in both national cultures. As democracy expanded
in tandem with the size of the cities themselves, the two goals
clashed, resulting in tensions over their compatibility.
The results of this clash continue to resonate in our society
today. Treating nineteenth-century London and New York as case
studies, Lisa Keller examines the critical development of
sanctioned free speech, controlled public assembly, new urban
regulations, and the quelling of riots, all in the name of a proper
regard for order. Drawing on rich archival sources that include the
unpublished correspondence of government officials and ordinary
citizens, Keller paints an intimate portrait of daily life in these
two cities and the intricacies of their emerging bureaucracies. She
finds that New York eventually settled on a policy of preempting
disruption before it occurred, while London chose a path of greater
tolerance toward street activities.
Dividing her history into five categories& mdash;cities,
police and militia, the public, free speech and assembly, and the
law& mdash;Keller concludes with an assessment of freedom in
these cities today and asks whether the scales have been tipped too
strongly on the side of order and control. Public
officialsincreasingly use permits, fees, and bureaucratic hassles
to frustrate the ability of reformers and protesters to make their
voices heard, and by doing so, she argues, they strike at the very
foundations of democracy.
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