The History of Municipal Government
Municipal government is a form that
has appeared many times throughout America’s development; i.e. New Orleans, St.
Louis and the British colonies. For the purposes of this story we begin when
the first settlers came over to America from Britain during the eighteenth
century. These individuals brought with them the ideologies of their homeland,
their culture and a familiar form of government. From the mid-eighteenth
century to the 1830s, the initial role of municipal government was to regulate
and control commerce. Municipal governments imposed restrictions on businesses
and limited economic freedom. Regulations served as a way to mold the municipality
in a way that ensured both justice and prosperity for those involved. Those
involved in governing, for the most part, were individuals who had a vested
interest in promoting both commerce and the overall success of the city. As
cities began to mature and grow it was no longer possible to exclusively govern
local groups of people, as cities were becoming much more diverse in terms of ethnicity
and individual interests.
As populations grew across the United States during the 1830s, municipalities saw a shift from an economic government to one that focused on a residential population and community. The concerns of this new government, health, safety, streets, and lighting, outweighed the economics, monopolies, markets, and price-fixing. This shift in governing resulted from the wealth of problems that arose from urban life and the desire for liberty. Cities were continuing to grow and become increasingly dense and so the problems facing them continued to grow as well. Commerce was still important, but it was not as serious as the urban problems that faced residents. Residents also did not want to be as strictly governed in terms of individual ambition and wanted the ability to raise their voice in political issues.
The new type of government was based on the ideas of stability, continuity, and order. The original intent of creating urban government was that they would one day have enough power and population to become a large city through the annexation of additional land. This was the ideology going into the Civil War, but after the war was over the traditional role of the village as a prelude to the formation of a city began to shift. These new ideas were able to take hold as more and more people began to move out of cities and into the suburbs. The strongest supporters of this change were the elite businessmen as they lived in the suburbs and had their businesses in the city. The separation of business and public life resulted from the increased number of people living in the suburbs. Municipal governments take on the form of what is needed by residents and, just as they once catered to commerce, they are now catering to communities and the needs of their residents.
As populations grew across the United States during the 1830s, municipalities saw a shift from an economic government to one that focused on a residential population and community. The concerns of this new government, health, safety, streets, and lighting, outweighed the economics, monopolies, markets, and price-fixing. This shift in governing resulted from the wealth of problems that arose from urban life and the desire for liberty. Cities were continuing to grow and become increasingly dense and so the problems facing them continued to grow as well. Commerce was still important, but it was not as serious as the urban problems that faced residents. Residents also did not want to be as strictly governed in terms of individual ambition and wanted the ability to raise their voice in political issues.
The new type of government was based on the ideas of stability, continuity, and order. The original intent of creating urban government was that they would one day have enough power and population to become a large city through the annexation of additional land. This was the ideology going into the Civil War, but after the war was over the traditional role of the village as a prelude to the formation of a city began to shift. These new ideas were able to take hold as more and more people began to move out of cities and into the suburbs. The strongest supporters of this change were the elite businessmen as they lived in the suburbs and had their businesses in the city. The separation of business and public life resulted from the increased number of people living in the suburbs. Municipal governments take on the form of what is needed by residents and, just as they once catered to commerce, they are now catering to communities and the needs of their residents.