| Room 3: Rowdies and Riots
During much of the nineteenth century, Americans struggled to form a
nation from an increasingly diverse population. Native-born Americans looked
with suspicion at newer immigrants with their strange languages and customs.
A volatile economy—a series of economic booms followed by panics or depressions—contributed
to tensions. Violence, and the threat of violence, was commonplace. The
city of Baltimore, where fire companies battled one another for the right
to put out fires and election riots left dozens killed and scores wounded,
soon became known to the rest of the country as “Mobtown.”
|
