It has long been accepted that culture in general and the fine arts in particular were not especially important to nineteenth-century Americans, that the country was concerned primarily with the growth of commerce and capitalism. Although there is a modicum of reality to this thesis, it is true only on the most superficial level. As the country expanded westward, its land mass was almost equal to that of Europe. Along with this growth came an intensive migration into the various cities springing up throughout the country. By 1860, more than 31 million people were living in the United States, with about 16 million on the East Coast. While much of the economy was based on local trade, international sales and purchases were crucial to the success of many business ventures. For a variety of reasons, the hub of the economy was New York City, which in 1825, as the Erie Canal was nearing completion, was dubbed the “London of the New World” by the Times of London. The accumulation of wealth that was evident in several older established families, including the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Tappans, helped fuel the desire for culture, to demonstrate to the Old World that the New World did not lack the ability to support the fine arts. Even in the years before the Civil War, a number of permanent cultural groups existed, including the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston (1815), the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia (1820), and the Philharmonic Society of New York (1842).

As with most cities and towns in the United States, New York grew by leaps and bounds during the first half of the nineteenth century. The official population in 1800 was 60,489. By 1820, it had more than doubled, to 123,706. Over the next two decades, the population soared once again; in 1840, there were 312,852 residents. In spite of economic ups and downs experienced through a number of business cycles, New York (and the rest of the country) continued to attract immigrants; by 1850, the city's population had risen to 515, 394, and ten years later it was 814,257. Unlike London's large, ethnically similar population, 8 which in 1850 totaled 2,363,341, New York's was multicultural.