Like Ian and Ben I too think that Paul Johnson made a great decision using Rochester as the focus of his study.\u00a0 As Ben and Ian both point out Rochester is a city that has a significant amount of diversity due to its ties to major cities through waterways as well as ties to the agriculture community due to its location out \u201cwest\u201d making it unlike any other city in the United States at this time.\u00a0 The diversity seen in Rochester grants those who live in or around the city a perspective on relations between those with wealth and those without wealth.\u00a0 It has become painfully obvious through class discussions that wealth, regardless of how one defines it, has turned into political power in the United States.\u00a0 Now this blog isn\u2019t going to head in a direction that many of my other entries have taken in that I am not going to talk about the abuse of power by the wealthy simply because they can do it without any repercussions. However, I can\u2019t deny that this concept appears once again due to the fact that many wealthy \u201cRochesterians\u201d imposed a sense of religion on the poor of their community because they believed a void or morality existed.<\/p>\n
Tension undoubtedly existed between the upper and lower classes of Rochester and by the decision to impose religion on the \u201cpoor\u201d by the wealthy did not ease these tensions I would argue with no knowledge of the state of Rochester.\u00a0 I think these tensions would become amplified as the \u201cwealthy\u201d are openly declaring themselves intellectually, financially, and morally superior through their decision to push religion on those beneath them.\u00a0 If I were say a factory worker of Rochester I would take this idea of imposing religion on me as the ultimate insult.\u00a0 What would make matters even worse for me as a factory worker at this time is that those in the upper class honestly believed they were doing me and the \u201cpoor\u201d community a favor.\u00a0 However, I could not be more wrong in my thoughts of how a \u201cpoor\u201d resident of Rochester would respond.\u00a0 Rather than spark revolution where the \u201cwealthy\u201d would be forced out of power, the poor of Rochester become unified with the wealthy, to an extent, due to the lower class\u2019s decision to embrace the changes imposed upon them.\u00a0 Revivals are highly attended by those from or near Rochester and temperance was widely accepted in the community.\u00a0 I am baffled by the acceptance of this religious movement by the \u201cpoor\u201d of Rochester as it seemingly goes against every other movement that had taken place in the United States when \u201cthe poor\u201d were told what to do.<\/p>\n
So what made the poor embrace the morality changes that they were told to make?\u00a0 Perhaps seeing how rebellions and skirmishes out west resulted for the poor when they defied the wealthy influenced their decision.\u00a0 Maybe members of the poor community took the old adage of \u201cif you can\u2019t beat them, join them\u201d to heart and saw success, a success that was clear enough to other poor community members that they too changed.\u00a0 Regardless of the answer to the question I pose, Rochester successfully finds a way to unite members of the community making them a unique city.\u00a0 Ian\u2019s commentary of Rochester as it exists today continues this idea of a unified city due to the holistic family feel the community has.\u00a0 Whether it be a store like Wegmen\u2019s or a family law practice unity exists.\u00a0 Now the question that I would like to be investigated further is what the wealthy get from a unified community?\u00a0 It would seem that the upper class community would lose power with a more prominent middle class but I don\u2019t see that happening.\u00a0 My thought is backed up by the fact that the Wegman family still runs a highly profitable store without outsiders coming in and wrangling power from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like Ian and Ben I too think that Paul Johnson made a great decision using Rochester as the focus of his study.\u00a0 As Ben and Ian both point out Rochester is a city that has a significant amount of diversity due to its ties to major cities through waterways as well as ties to the … <\/p>\n