Introduction

Abstract

This book examines the development of the Chicago Police Department from the 1850s through the 1880s amid class tensions and political and economic conflict in the city. During the late nineteenth century, Chicago was the most violent, turbulent city in the country. From the Lager Beer Riot of 1855, through the Civil War, the 1867 strikes for the eight-hour workday, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the 1877 strike and riot, the May Day strikes and the Haymarket bombing, and the Pullman Strike, Chicago was the scene of the crises accompanying industrialization and the development of a wage labor economy. This book explores how the various political and economic groups in Chicago, particularly the business elite, shaped the Chicago Police Department, as well as how the police shaped the relations between those groups. The book demonstrates the crucial role played by state institutions in the rise of capitalism and how businessmen influenced these state institutions to meet their needs.