Brooklyn Bridge Case Study

3.1. Political
Initiation
When the project of building the Brooklyn Bridge began, there was a man by the name M. "Boss" Tweed who helped with the project, he had a bad reputation, known as the most corrupt head of New York City 's Tammany Hall political machine. From the very beginning of the Brooklyn Bridge project, he latched onto the project, he used bribery in order for to become the bridge’s major holder of stock and manage all the financials of the project. During the construction of the project, there were many casualties, the designer of the bridge himself died. Onsite over 20 workers died in the construction effort, and on average 100 people were quitting every week, which then resulted in having to look for replacements in order

Economic
The Brooklyn Bridge connects the communities of Manhattan and Brooklyn as it extends across the East river (Videon, 1989). Prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, boats were the only form of conveyance between the two boroughs. In the year 1860, 40% of Brooklyn’s income earners worked in New York City (“History of Brooklyn”, n.d., para. 5). The purpose of the bridge was accomplished as it provided a convenient way of travel for a large amount of people living in Brooklyn but working in Manhattan.
Business cycles and Economy
In the early 1800’s the United States economy was relatively small and predominantly agriculturally based. In the nineteenth century, the country had an unstable yet impressively expanding economy due to immigration, industrialization, new technological advances and territorial expansion. After the Civil war came to an end in 1865, the American economy was driven by innovation and invention. At the end of the century, America had one of the largest industrial economies in the world. Not only did the rapid growth of industry propel the country towards self-sufficiency but also gave rise to proliferating development in cities. The depression in 1873 which occurred due to the unrestrained development and financial over-speculation should not be overlooked. Consequently, small business suffered and unemployment rates had risen during this

Subsequently, this caused New York City to become a chief commercial metropolis in the United States. At that time, due to lack of housing Manhattan was unable to provide accommodation for the people who worked in New York. This crisis was solved upon the completion of the bridge as people were now able to live in Brooklyn and commute safely and efficiently to their jobs in New York City. The bridging of the East River enabled the safe transportation of goods and labour between the two cities. As a result of this, the Brooklyn Bridge became one of the largest economic centres in the