Chapter Two 
A YOUNG MAN IN NEW YORK 
THE FIELD FAMILY had always lived in New England, prin- 
cipally Connecticut and Massachusetts. ‘The oldest son, 
David, foresaw the coming growth and prosperity of New 
York and established himself there as a lawyer after his pre- 
liminary education at Williams College. The completion of 
the Erie canal in 1825 made New York the American me- 
tropolis, and it soon boasted of nearly two hundred thousand 
population. It was more mixed in nationalities than Boston, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, or Savannah, and per- 
haps more vulgar, but much less narrow and hide-bound. 
David and Cyrus did well to leave a New England village and 
go to New York. They arrived as the new expansion was 
getting under way and grew up with the city. The Erie canal, 
though only a ditch four feet deep, was affecting the lives of 
many Americans. 
The period that drew David and his brothers to New York 
was one of great expansion and progress in national affairs. 
Jeffersonian democracy was in the air, and the surging energy 
of a rising people was bursting the bonds of caste and conven- 
tion. The eyes of the nation were turned to the West, and the 
vast possibilities of the continent’s natural resources and un- 
developed opportunities were being recognized. After several 
false starts and unfortunate interruptions, the newly-organ- 
ized republic of the western world was getting into its stride. 
The new system of canals, supplementing the rivers and 
the turnpikes, had reduced freight rates to a tenth or a twen- 
tieth of the former costs. This was an economic factor of 
enormous importance and was the basis for a splendid boom 
in business. The recently-invented steamship was also prov- 
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