Regional definitions vary
The 'Northeastern United States' is a region of the
United States defined by the
U.S. Census Bureau.
[1][2] A 2006 census estimate put the population at 54,741,353. The Northeast is bordered to the north by
Canada, to the west by the
Midwest, to the south by the
South, and to the east by the
Atlantic Ocean. Its largest city,
New York City, is also the largest city and metropolitan area in the United States.
As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Northeast region of the United States covers nine states:
Connecticut,
Maine,
Massachusetts,
New Jersey,
New Hampshire,
New York,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, and
Vermont.
Delaware and
Maryland are sometimes referred to as part of the Northeast census group because of their inclusion in the
BosWash megalopolis. However, the Census Bureau includes these two states in the
South Atlantic region.
[1] Ohio is also sometimes considered to be Northeastern as well, because it may be too far east to be considered in the
Midwest.
The Northeast is also the richest region of the United States. In 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the wealthiest states in the Union were Maryland (1st), New Jersey (2nd), Connecticut (3rd), Hawaii (4th), and Massachusetts (5th)
[1]
In addition to holding four of the top five slots, the Northeast is home to Maryland, the single highest-ranking state in the country.
New York alone accounts for nearly 8% of U.S. gross domestic product as of 2005.
[4] While they rank high in income, they are predominantly small in overall population and area (New York and Pennsylvania aside), with only New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania ranking in the top 10 states in population and no state ranking in the top 10 in regards to size.
Geography
The Northeast is the smallest Census Bureau defined region in the country, but has the most states than any other census region. The region has a landscape varying from the rocky coast of
New England to the fertile farmland of the
Ohio River Valley behind the
Allegheny Front in Pennsylvania. The
Isles of Shoals near the
Maine/
New Hampshire border begins the rocky Atlantic coastline of the Northeast. Jagged
cliffs rise up to a hundred feet above the
ocean on Maine's northern coast; south of
West Quoddy Head Peninsula in Maine, the eastern most point in the United States, the coastline subsides to sandy
beaches which extend through the rest of the Northeast's Atlantic coastline. Between
Cape Cod in Massachusetts and
Cape May in New Jersey are a series of large islands including
Nantucket,
Martha's Vineyard,
Block Island,
Long Island,
Manhattan, and
Staten Island.
Four major rivers'
mouths pierce the coastline to empty into the Atlantic: the
Delaware at the New Jersey/Delaware border, the
Hudson at the New York/New Jersey border, the
Connecticut in Connecticut, and the
Kennebec in Maine. The Kennebec River extends over one hundred kilometers past
Augusta, Maine and into the thick
pine forests of Maine. The Hudson empties into
New York Harbor in the
New York metropolitan area and extends north between
the Berkshires and the
Catskill Mountains before it terminates in
Upstate New York at its
source in the
Adirondack Mountains. The
Mohawk River flows eastward from its source near
Utica, New York between the Catskills and the Adirondacks before merging with the Hudson north of
Albany. One of the
Great Lakes,
Lake Ontario, also borders the region.
The Connecticut River flows south, running along the border of New Hampshire and Vermont between the
Green Mountains and
White Mountains, before flowing through
Springfield, Massachusetts, and
Hartford, Connecticut, on its way to empty into
Long Island Sound. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire is
Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in the Northeast and the
windiest location in the United States. The White Mountains were also the location of the famous geological formation called the
Old Man of the Mountain, which collapsed in 2003. To the west of the Green Mountains on the New York/Vermont border, and extending into Canada, is the
glacier-formed
Lake Champlain, where Vermont's largest city
Burlington is located. The Lake Champlain area drains north into the
St. Lawrence river valley.
The Delaware River flows from its source between the
Pocono Mountains and the Catskills down, forming the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and passing through the
Lehigh Valley,
Trenton, and
Philadelphia areas before emptying into
Delaware Bay on the Delaware/New Jersey Border. The
Susquehanna River begins in the Catskill Mountains of New York and winds down a valley between the
Allegheny Plateau and the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania before crossing the border into Maryland, and emptying into the
Chesapeake Bay.
To the North and West of the Susquehanna are the
Finger Lakes of New York, so called because they resemble human fingers, and the Northeast's borders with the
Great Lakes of
Lake Ontario in New York and
Lake Erie in both Pennsylvania and New York. On an
isthmus between the two Great Lakes on the New York/
Ontario border near
Buffalo is one of the most famous
waterfalls in the world,
Niagara Falls.
To the south, flowing out of the Allegheny Plateau is the
Ohio River which flows through
Pittsburgh and on into the
U.S. Midwest where it ultimately merges with the
Mississippi River.
Climate
Despite being geographically one of the smallest regions of the
United States, the northestern states posses a wide range of climates. Rainfall varies from over 50 inches annually in some coastal areas, to 32 inches in the western part of
Pennsylvania and
New York. Snowfall can range from over 100 inches per year in
Upstate New York to only trace amounts in the coastal areas of
Maryland . Generally, northern New England, the parts of New York north of the
Mohawk River, highland areas in the
Appalachians and some coastal areas possess a warm summer
humid continental climate (
Koppen climate classification ''Dfb''), with warm, humid summers and snowy, often bitterly cold winters. Cities in this zone include
Syracuse, NY,
Burlington, VT, and
Portland, ME. Below this line, much of the region (except for the higher elevations) has a hot summer
humid continental climate (Koppen ''Dfa''), with hot, humid summers and moderately cold, snowy winters. Most of the major cities of the Northeast lie within this zone, including
Pittsburgh, PA,
New York, NY, and
Boston, MA. The area around the
Chesapeake Bay which is only sometimes called Northeast as well as the states
Maryland,
Delaware and extreme southeastern
Pennsylvania border on a
humid subtropical climate (Koppen ''Cfa''), with hot, humid summers and more mild winters. Cities that lie in this zone include
Baltimore, MD,
Washington, DC and
Philadelphia PA.
History
New England
Main articles: New England
New England is perhaps the best-defined region of the U.S., with more uniformity and more of a shared heritage than other regions of the country. New England has played a dominant role in American history. From the late 17th century to the mid to late 18th century, New England was the nation's cultural leader in political, educational, cultural and intellectual thought. During this time, it was the country's economic center.
The earliest European settlers of New England were
English Protestants who came in search of religious liberty. They gave the region its distinctive political format —
town meetings (an outgrowth of meetings held by church elders), in which citizens gathered to discuss issues of the day. Town meetings still function in many New England communities today and have been revived as a form of dialogue in the national political arena.
Education is another of the region's strongest legacies. The cluster of top-ranking universities and colleges in New England—including four of the eight schools of the
Ivy League, as well as
MIT,
Tufts, and numerous other elite colleges and universities—is unequaled by any other region. America's first college, Harvard, was founded at
Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636. Many of the graduates from these schools end up settling in the region after school, providing the area with a well educated populace and its most valuable resource, the area being relatively lacking in natural resources, besides "ice, rocks, and fish". True to their enterprising nature, New Englanders have used their brains to make up the gap, for instance, in the 19th century, they made money off their frozen pond water, by shipping ice in fast clipper ships to tropical locations before refrigeration was invented.
As some of the original New England settlers migrated westward, immigrants from
Canada,
Ireland,
Italy, and
eastern Europe moved into the region. Despite a changing population, New England maintains a distinct cultural identity. It can be seen in the simple woodframe houses and quaint white church steeples that are features of many small towns, and in the traditional lighthouses that dot the Atlantic coast. New England is also well known for its mercurial weather, its crisp chill, and vibrantly colored foliage in autumn. The region is a popular tourist destination. As a whole, the area of New England tends to be liberal in its politics, albeit restrained in its personal mores. Because the area is the closest in the United States to
England, the region often shows a greater receptivity to European ideas and culture in relation to the rest of the country.
The extreme southwestern part of the region (that is, the western third or so of
Connecticut) is sometimes considered culturally and demographically to be more like the
Mid-Atlantic region because of its proximity to
New York City.
Mid-Atlantic
These areas provided the young United States with heavy
industry and served as the "melting pot" of new
immigrants from Europe. Cities grew along major shipping routes and waterways. Such flourishing cities included New York City on the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay.
Dutch immigrants moved into the lower Hudson River Valley in what is now New Jersey and New York State.
Swedes went to Delaware. The English Catholics settled in Maryland. An English
Protestant sect, the Friends (
Quakers), settled Pennsylvania. In time, all these settlements fell under English control, but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.
Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders, and the region served as a bridge between North and South.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the
Continental Congress, the convention of delegates from the original colonies that organized the
American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the
Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the
U.S. Constitution in 1787.
The Mid-Atlantic with two of America's largest cities, New York City and Philadelphia, contains vast importance in the region. A major center of business, media, education, the arts, and cuisine, the area could be one of America's most prominent regions. With all these attractions, many immigrants are allured to the region. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware are rich in immigrant culture throughout history, beginning with the Europeans. Still rich in cultures throughout Europe, the region boasts a much larger Asian and Hispanic populations. African immigrants have many strongholds in the urban areas.
Virginia, which is sometimes considered a Mid-Atlantic state, is something of a hybrid. Northern Virginia, which comprises about 25% of the state's total population, has a larger percentage of immigrants, a larger Asian and Latino population and a culture that is decidedly more Northern in nature than the rest of Virginia. Yet Virginia's historical roots is Southern. Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America. Interestingly enough, many residents in the Northeast consider Virginia to be a Southern state, but some residents in the South do not consider Virginia a Southern state.
Culture
Language, ethnicity, and religion
Culturally, the Northeast is somewhat different from the rest of the United States. While some regions of the
United States, such as the
U.S. South, are predominantly
Protestant, half of the states in the Northeast are predominantly
Catholic, with
Rhode Island having the highest percentage of Catholics in the
Continental United States. This is largely due to substantial levels of immigration the region received in the 19th and early 20th centuries from
Ireland,
Italy,
Quebec, and other Catholic regions. The Northeast is home to many other religious groups. For example,
New York has the highest percentage of
Jews in the nation, followed by
New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
Connecticut and
Massachusetts also have a significant percentage of Jews relative to most other U.S. states, as does
Maryland. The Northeast also contains the highest concentration of
Italian-Americans and
Irish-Americans in the United States.
The northeast contains the greatest density of
accent diversity in the country, including:
★ the
Boston accent, and the closely related accents of Eastern New England, extending through New Hampshire and Maine;
★ the distinctly conservative dialect of the
Providence, Rhode Island area;
★ the Western New England family of accents, extending west into the upper
Hudson Valley;
★ the Upstate New York cradle of the
Northern Cities Vowel Shift;
★ the
New York City accent;
★ the
northern New Jersey accent, similar to and often confused with that of New York City;
★ the closely-related
Philadelphia accent and
Baltimore accent;
★ the distinctive Western Pennsylvania accent, centered around
Pittsburgh English
The Northeast is an ethnically diverse region, with high populations of
African-Americans,
Hispanics, and
Asians, though it has a generally low number of
Native Americans. The high level of diversity has much to do with
New York City, which was and still is an entry point for many immigrants, however, the other major cities of the region have significant ethnic diversity as well. The three largest cities in the census-defined Northeast (
New York City,
Philadelphia, and
Boston) have the same four largest ancestries:
African American,
Italian,
Irish, and
Puerto Rican.
As is the case in much of the United States, people from many
European American backgrounds live in the Northeast, although white Northeasterners frequently identify with their ethnic background more strongly than do U.S.-born whites from other U.S. regions.
Massachusetts, particularly in the
Boston area, is regarded as the
Irish capital of the United States.
New York City,
Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and
New Jersey have long been known for their many
Italian-Americans (many of whom have moved to outlying suburban areas). The
New York City borough of
Brooklyn also historically is a major center of the
Jewish-American population; while a significant community still lives there, in the mid-20th century
Jews made up over 50% of the borough's white population (the city as a whole also contained over 50% of the entire country's
Jewish population at the time).
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is home to the famous
Pennsylvania Dutch (who are actually of
German descent), but now a large, vibrant Hispanic population lives there as well. Overall, the Northeast has high percentages of people of
Jewish,
German,
Italian,
Irish,
Portuguese, and
French-Canadian descent. The cities of
New Bedford, Massachusetts,
Fall River, Massachusetts,
Kearny, New Jersey, and
Newark, New Jersey each have high populations of people of
Portuguese and
Brazilian descent; increasingly so does
Mount Vernon, New York, a small city that borders
New York City to the north which also has a significant
African American and
Caribbean–
West Indian community.
The Northeast has the second largest Asian population in the United States, after the
West Coast. The largest of these groups are
Indian,
Chinese,
Korean, and
Filipino, in that order. There are also significant populations of
Japanese,
Vietnamese,
Thai, and
Cambodians.
Almost all the Asians are concentrated in five states: New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. However, Connecticut and Delaware are seeing a rapid surge in Asians.
The Northeast has the third largest Hispanic population, after the
West Coast and the
Southwest. The majority of the nation's Puerto Ricans reside in the region, chiefly in the states of
New York,
Pennsylvania,
New Jersey,
Massachusetts, and
Connecticut. Also, the Northeast has the most people of "Other Hispanic" heritage in the country, with the majority of them being
Dominican,
Central American and
Colombian.The Northeast also has the second-largest population of
Cuban Americans of any region, but their concentration is more widespread (the
South has the largest Cuban population, but it is almost completely concentrated in southern
Florida).
Hudson County, New Jersey has the highest Cuban population outside South Florida. The neighborhood of
Washington Heights in
Manhattan is regarded as the center of the Dominican diaspora and
Paterson, New Jersey is considered the center of Peruvian immigration. The
Baltimore/Washington D.C Area has the second largest population of
Salvadoreans in the U.S after
Los Angeles. While the Northeast has one of the smallest populations of
Mexican Americans of any U.S. region, its Mexican population is growing at a faster rate than that of any other region in the country, and there are many cities and towns throughout with significant populations.
The Northeast also has the second largest population of
African-Americans, only behind the South. Most of the Black population resides in
New York,
Maryland,
Pennsylvania, or
New Jersey. New York has more Blacks than any other state, Pennsylvania is ranked tenth in number of African Americans, and New Jersey is ranked fifteenth. Maryland is the state with the largest percentage of blacks in the region.
Massachusetts and
Connecticut also have large Black populations, along with
Delaware having a large percentage of its population African American, but a relatively smaller total population. The Northeast also contains the bulk of the
African immigrant population in the
United States.
The Northeast has the largest concentration and percentage of Jews in the United States, and their presence is most notable in the areas of
Baltimore,
Philadelphia,
New York City,and southern New England. The region also has the highest amount of
Hindus and
Sikhs in the nation, with a slight lead over the west. This is due to the fact that the Northeast has more people of
Indian descent than any other part of the country, and in the world outside India.
The region is also home to one of the largest populations of Muslims, Buddhists, and many other religions, including the highest amount of
Roman Catholics and
Eastern Orthodox Christians, due to the many Eastern Europeans who have immigrated to the region in the past thirty years.
While much of the region is highly diverse, the Northeast also contains the three states with the highest percentage of
European Americans:
Maine (96.9% white),
Vermont (96.9%), and
New Hampshire (96.2%). These three states all have high concentrations of
French Canadians, and many descendants of
English immigrants.
Cuisine
Main articles: Cuisine of the Northeastern United States
The Northeast has from colonial times relied on fishing and seafare as a major source of its economic strength, namely because the extreme winter conditions preclude farming as a practical occupation in much of the region.
The result has been an intensely developed seafood sector, which today booms with two centuries of experience behind it and produces some of the most famous dishes in the world. Maine's excellent
lobster is shipped around the nation.
Boston, one of the oldest seaports in America, makes what the locals consider the finest
clam chowder in the
United States. New England is also famous for fried and steamed
clams.`
Philadelphia's large immigrant population has contributed to a large mixture of tastes to mingle and develop. This city is known for its
soft pretzels,
cheesesteaks, and hoagie's. Philadelphia has also been ranked as one the top restaurant cities in the U.S.
Baltimore, a vibrant metropolis set on the teeming
Chesapeake Bay, has been highly successful in capitalizing on its marine history and is arguably the current center of the
American seafood market. Patrons from the world over come to the
Inner Harbor to enjoy Maryland
blue crabs, Maryland
crabcakes,
crab soup,
seafood lasagna, raw
oysters,
rock fish, and the state's own brand of potato chips,
crab chips.
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware are also known for their citizens' heavy consumption of
scrapple, a breakfast food mostly unknown outside of the region.
In Maryland and some parts of Pennsylvania,
fried eggs are known as
dip eggs. Baltimore is also home to a unique variety of
fritters. Maryland is also famous for its Old Bay Seasoning and Pit Beef.
Urban, suburban, and rural
Much of the history of the Northeast is characterized by archetypical medium and large manufacturing cities. The sometimes urban character of the region gives it a strange mix of reputations, and many view Northeastern cities as places of economic opportunity. In major northeastern cities, ethnic enclaves aren't uncommon. Most of the cities have large, and at times, provocative,
artistic and
theatrical scenes.
Older religious and ethnic factionalism have become relatively minor concerns. At the same time, the major cities are expensive and have large economic disparities, often giving them a reputation of being impersonal and aloof. The decreased importance of manufacturing has left many of the cities without an economic base, giving some of them a reputation for
urban decay. Notable examples of cities left damaged and often severely depopulated from loss of manufacturing include
Yonkers,
Utica,
Buffalo,
Syracuse, and even parts of
New York City in New York state;
Newark in New Jersey;
Baltimore in Maryland;
Lowell in Massachusetts;
Hartford and
Bridgeport in Connecticut; and
Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. However, examples dot the entire region and much of the neighboring region of the
American Midwest.
Some of these cities, though, have enjoyed revivals in recent years, replacing their economic reliance on manufacturing with job development in the medical, technical and educational industries.
Pittsburgh, for example, now counts only 23% of its workforce in blue collar occupations according to a 2005 report from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the last of the city's infamous steel mills closed in 1998.
Though it generally is seen as having a very
urban character, at least in its most populated areas, the Northeast was one of the first regions to undergo heavy post-
World War II suburbanization. The most notable of these early suburbs was
Levittown in the
Long Island region of
New York, east of
New York City; Levittown is often regarded as the archetype of the "cookie-cutter" suburb where all houses and streets look pretty much the same. The
suburban spawl of
New Jersey is, likewise, famous, as is New Jersey's reputation for
urban decay. Despite that the region has the lowest murder rate in the United States.
[5]
Today, suburbanization is a rampant trend in United States housing development driven by widespread use of the
automobile and de-emphasis on
mass transit and
commuter railroads as a viable form of transportation. Nonetheless, the iconic New York
subway system is widely used, as is the
PATH system connecting Newark,
Hoboken, Jersey City, and
Manhattan. The
New York metropolitan area's
Long Island Rail Road,
Metro-North Railroad, and
New Jersey Transit commuter rail are the three largest regional rail systems in the country and together transport about one-third of commuters who use rail transportation in the United States each day.
Many of the major and secondary cities in the region also utilize mass transit. Systems that provide both rail and bus service include Baltimore's
MTA-Maryland (which serves much of the state of Maryland but is centered on Baltimore), Boston's
MBTA, Buffalo's
NFTA, Philadelphia's
SEPTA and
PATCO, Pittsburgh's
PAT, and Washington D.C's
WMATA. Many other smaller cities have smaller, bus-only systems. In Pennsylvania, new
commuter rail projects, such as
CorridorOne, are being undertaken to expand service between
Harrisburg and
Lancaster.
Syracuse's
OnTrack transit service makes Syracuse the smallest city in the United States to have its own transit system, though it is not widely used. Five states - Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island - have transit providers that cover much or all of their respective states.
Today, the coastal Northeast is said to resemble a
megalopolis, or megacity, an interdependent network of cities and suburbs that blend into each other. Economically, the region provides many of the financial and government services the rest of the country and much of the world depends on, from New York's
Wall Street to Boston's academia to Washington's
K Street lobbying firms. The megacity is called
BosWash, for ''Boston-Washington'' describing the width of the region from one metropolitan area to another, or Bosnywash, for ''Boston-New York-Washington'', describing the northern and southern anchor cities and most important metropolitan region in the middle. It is linked largely by the
I-95 Interstate, which runs from
Florida, through
North Carolina,
Virginia, around
Washington, D.C., through
Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York, and up to Boston and into
Maine. By rail, the cities are linked by
Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor. Suburbs of Boston as far north as
New Hampshire and even
Maine, as well as Washington's southern suburbs in Virginia are arguably all part of Bosnywash.
Some argue, notably political scientists
Ruy Teixeira and
John B. Judis in their book ''
The Emerging Democratic Majority'', that city and suburb in Bosnywash and in other regions of the country are moving towards a state of economic and cultural seamlessness. Teixeira and Judis use the increasingly similar voting and demographic patterns of city and suburbs to make their argument. However, it is also evidenced in increasing population density and tightly-linked infrastructure. Along the
Gold Coast, the area across the
Hudson River from New York City, of New Jersey, population density has become so great that the state built the
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system to decrease traffic congestion. This system complements the PATH system, New Jersey Transit commuter bus and rail service, a complex highway transportation system, and Port Authority Airports. Future expansion of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail could see it go to
Staten Island in New York City to the south and throughout
Bergen and southern
Passaic Counties to the north and northwest. Similarly, both Boston's and Philadelphia's transit systems links those cities with their surrounding suburbs very seamlessly. Further, much of the Northeast region is heavily linked by state-run commuter trains and Amtrak.
Despite the heavy urban/suburban characteristics of the region, many
rural characteristics survive. Much of
Upstate New York, and even as far south as
Westchester County have decidedly rural characteristics. The
Pine Barrens and the part of northwestern New Jersey known as the Skylands
[6] are known as retreats from the urban areas of the Northeast. In fact, New Jersey is more rural than most people realize despite its stereotype of urban and suburban sprawl. Both Long Island and northern New York have relatively well-known wine producing regions. New York is a heavily agricultural state, and even New York City's boroughs of
Queens and
Staten Island had some sort of farm production well into the late 20th century. Small towns and cities dot western Massachusetts'
Berkshire region, as well as
Vermont,
Pennsylvania, western
Maryland, and
New Hampshire. While formerly important rural industries like farming and
mining have decreased in importance in recent decades, they persist.
Economy
Until World War II, the Northeast's economy was largely driven by industry. In the second half of the 20th century, most of New England's traditional industries have relocated to states or foreign countries where goods can be made more cheaply. In more than a few factory towns, skilled workers have been left without jobs. The gap has been partly filled by the microelectronics, computer and biotech industries, fed by talent from the region's prestigious educational institutions.
Like New England, the Mid-Atlantic region has seen much of its heavy industry relocate elsewhere. Other industries, such as drug manufacturing and communications, have taken up the slack. The economy of the
New York City and
Washington, DC sub-regions are more complex; the fortunes of the former are heavily (but far from completely) dependent on the financial industry and the stock market, the latter's economy is heavily reliant on the U.S. Federal government and related services.
As the
service sector is less dependent on heavy labor than the formerly dominant
industrial sector, the incentive unskilled immigrants and unskilled laborers once had to move to the Northeast has largely diminished. They lack the skills to compete in, for example, the financial, technical, educational, and medical markets. However, the Northeast remains a magnet for skilled workers from around the world.
The Northeast area is the wealthiest region of the country. The
Upper East Side of the
New York City borough of
Manhattan arguably hosts the largest concentration of individual wealth in the world. Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey are the wealthiest states in the union in terms of both per capita and household income.
Politics
The Northeast region is known for its political
liberalism. For example, every state in the region voted for
John Kerry in the
2004 election. However, Pennsylvania is considered a Battleground state, meaning that either a Republican or Democratic Presidential candidate could win Pennsylvania. In 2000, Pennsylvania voted 51-47 for Al Gore; in 2004, it voted 51-49 for John Kerry. New Hampshire, with its unique tradition of
libertarian politics, has also recently been considered a battleground state. In 2000, it went to George W. Bush 48-47, but in 2004, John Kerry won New Hampshire 51-49.
Historical
Traditionally, the Northeast was a
Republican stronghold. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Republicans were economically and socially liberal, advocating open markets and endorsing the concept of free labor (a belief that laborers have the right to sell their labor in exchange for wages); therefore, the Republicans of the time generally opposed
labor unions and
slavery. From the
American Civil War until the
Great Depression, American politics were largely dominated by Northeastern Republicans and their business interests. The wealth and power of the Northeast during this period generated a great deal of animosity in other regions of the country with more
agrarian interests in part because of Republican domination. Some of that animosity still persists today.
The major cities were more likely to support the rival
Democratic Party and often were under the control of the powerful
political machines that dished out patronage (the most famous of these machines was
Tammany Hall in
New York City, which even held some political power into the 1960s). Immigration to Northeastern cities rapidly pushed the population of the region upwards from the 1790s until
World War II and the Democratic Party often won the support of these immigrants through political patronage. The Democratic Party was also the prevailing party in the
American South; despite occasional disagreements between the regional party factions, there was little interference between the two even if there were at times vast differences in ideology. The coalition between the cities of the North and the
agrarian South was perhaps ironic in the sense that the Northern Democratic Party was made up of ethnic interests (often Irish
Catholic) and unions while the Southern Democratic Party was the party of the
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and enforcer of
Jim Crow laws designed to keep blacks from advancing after the Civil War. What the two factions shared were distaste for the Republicans.
Southern Democrats, as well as counterparts in western farming states, wanted to pursue populist and agrarian policies in opposition to Republican industrial interests. Their Northern counterparts wielded vast control over political machines controlled at times by ethnic interests, particularly the Irish in New York and Boston, and supported policies that weren't necessarily anti-industrial, but ostensibly designed to alleviate working class poverty. (Racism was sometimes a shared trait between Northern and Southern Democrats as well. While the South promoted slavery and later Jim Crow laws, the ethnic labor force of the North feared
African Americans would threaten their employment if they migrated to the cities and took their jobs.)
From the 1930s to the early 1990s, despite the power of labor unions, the Democratic Party was regarded as too economically illiberal (that is, supportive of heavy government interference in the economy and overly supportive of
social programs) for a region that had a large professional class. After
World War II, many professionals relocated to suburbs, causing them to take on decidedly Republican leanings as the cities remained largely Democratic enclaves. As a result, the Republicans remained competitive in the northeast during much of the remainder of the 20th century. Much of the remainder of the country was heavily supportive of the Democrats from the 1930s until
Richard Nixon's
Southern Strategy sundered regional party loyalty. When the Democrats began softening their economic policies in the early 1990s, suburban northeastern voters responded favorably and became more supportive of them. On the federal level, many northeastern voters have abandoned the Republican Party, sometimes associating it with reactionary and oppressive policies and other times merely preferring Democratic economic solutions (see ''
New Democrats''). However, the local Republican Party affiliates in much of the Northeast remain more socially liberal than their counterparts in other regions of the country.
As of 2006, the governorships of many of the northeastern states are still controlled by the Republicans, because of tradition and the party's pronounced social liberalism in the region.
Present
Since the late 20th century, the region's politics have been largely explained by a strong coalition of demographics predominant in the North that are overwhelmingly Democratic. These groups include the majority
Catholic population with a significant urban, Democratic legacy (this would apply to the
Jewish population as well), artists, educators, and intellectuals of
New York City,
Boston,
Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh,
Baltimore,
Washington D.C. and the
Ivy League; the large minority populations of those same cities; a large socially conservative but economically liberal
blue-collar population throughout the region; and the often socially liberal suburbanites of
New Jersey,
Connecticut,
Maryland, and
New Hampshire. Pro-business policies espoused by the national Democratic Party since the election of
Bill Clinton in 1992 have drawn many upper-class white professionals into the Democratic fold who would have been Republicans as late as the 1980s.
This also continues its contrast and rivalry with the conservative
South that has existed since the founding of the United States. Within the Northeast, there are great political rivalries between the cities and the suburbs that surround them. This is particularly prominent in
Philadelphia, and
New York City (which even has
a secession movement), where the cities must compete with the suburbs and rural areas for state funding.
However, because of the increasing integration of the
BosWash megacity combined with the more centrist
Democratic Leadership Council's appeal to free trade advocates, ideological differences have softened between city and suburb in recent decades, strengthening the Democratic Party overall. Over time, residents of the suburbs have begun facing changes once regarded as uniquely urban, such as gangs, urban crowding, and drug abuse, while becoming increasingly ethnically diverse.
Post-war migration patterns weakened the Northeast's power considerably. Industry often relocated to the
West Coast and South since they were less expensive, less crowded, and were less prone to
labor unions. By the 1970s,
California had surpassed
New York as the most populous state and by 1994
Texas had pushed New York to third place. By 2020, Florida is predicted to push New York to the rank of fourth most populated state. While
New York City remains by far the largest city in the United States and a large recipient of immigrants, most immigration now comes from
Latin America to border states such as
Arizona, Texas, California, and
New Mexico. Secondary cities in the region, such as
Buffalo, never regained their economic foothold after the decline of industry, though larger and more famous cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia developed sophisticated service economies.
Today, along with the West Coast and upper Midwest, the Northeast is one of three regions dominated by the Democratic Party.
See also
★
Geography of the United States
★
NESEA [2].
References
1. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf
2. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/reg_div.txt
3. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf
4. http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/GSPNewsRelease.htm
5. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=169&scid=12
6. http://www.njskylands.com/
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