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Institutions — The Police & Social Disorder
Andrew Jackson was the first president not to the manor born. His accomplishments and rise to prominence give credence to the possibilities afforded only in America, the great meritocracy. Jacksonian America is infused with enthusiasm. With hard work and know-how, anyone can rise to success and power. In this atmosphere, institutions‹and not just prisons‹are believed to represent American ingenuity at its best. They are embraced as the universal remedy for all social ills. The house of refuge, exclusively for juveniles, is created to reform dependent and delinquent youth. Insane asylums become the cure for the mentally ill. During this era, rural, agricultural communities continue to give way to an urban, manufacturing and commercially oriented society. Westward expansion is in full swing. Non-Protestant immigration on both coasts stirs palpable anxiety in white Anglo-Saxon America. Law enforcement tactics become outdated and ineffectual in this new landscape, and a unified police force is created. Political machines develop and co-opt these new departments. Ethnic and religious gangs are on the rise, as is victimless or vice crime. Prostitution, gambling, and public drunkenness characterize the growing city, which has been caught unprepared for such rapid changes. The Civil War, at its heart about federalism rather than slavery, rages from 1860 to 1865. In January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It isn't just a move to free slaves‹the proclamation opens the door for the conscription of blacks into the Union army. Some people believe this helps the North win the war. |