Cincinnati is located in southern Ohio, which was a free state, but it had been settled by many migrants from the Upper South, who traveled along the Ohio River to reach it. In the early decades of the 19th century, most of its residents were from eastern states, particularly Pennsylvania, but it was strongly influenced by Southern attitudes. It was described as having the economy and policies of the South, while serving as a gateway to and having the aspirations of the "west," as the developing frontier of the
Ohio River valley was known. During the early 19th century, with the development of the
steamboats, shipping and trade along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers dramatically expanded, causing Cincinnati to grow rapidly. Its businesses attracted many new residents seeking work, creating a volatile, highly competitive environment. It was also distinguished by a high rate of immigration, especially from Ireland and Germany from the 1840s onward. The Irish had started arriving as immigrants earlier in the 19th century, drawn by work on the canals which were being constructed in Ohio from the 1820s to 1845, and the
National Road during the 1830s. These projects included the
Miami and Erie Canal that was started in Cincinnati. The Irish competed with the growing number of black American migrants to the city, many of whom came from Kentucky and Virginia. Between 1820 and 1829, there was a rapid increase in the black population of the city: in the last three years the flow of migrants was the highest, mostly free blacks and former slaves from the South. The latter continued to be at risk of capture by
slave catchers. The number of blacks in Cincinnati increased from 433 to 2,258 during this decade, while the total city population increased from 9,642 to 24,831 in 1830. Percentage-wise, this was an increase from 4.5% to 9%. Because of work opportunities generated by the steamboat industry and shipping, Cincinnati had the largest black population of any city in the Old West through most of the 19th century. Poor and ill-educated, new residents crowded into available housing or built shanties and often lived in poor conditions. Irish immigrants and blacks both competed for housing in poor neighborhoods along the river, as most workers lived within walking distance of their work. Ohio had historically tried to discourage free black settlement, but the rapid change of population demographics in Cincinnati raised anxieties among several classes of whites. The merchant class feared that the large population of blacks near the river would discourage steamboat travelers from shopping in their retail stores, and affect growing trade with Southern planters. Others associated the poverty of the blacks with moral failings that would detract from the image of what they were calling the "Queen City." Skilled craftsmen and artisans were already under pressure as mechanization was proceeding. They were under pressure to cut costs, and industrialists divided jobs, apportioning low-skilled work to blacks and women. The artisans resented blacks in the job market, refusing to take them as apprentices in the skilled trades, and blaming them as scapegoats. By 1829 there was other opposition to black migration in Ohio as a whole. A chapter of the
American Colonization Society had been formed, encouraging blacks to relocate to Africa. In Cincinnati as in Philadelphia, many free people of color were from families that had lived in the United States for generations, and they had no desire to leave. Rising sentiment against black settlement in Cincinnati was expressed in various wards by residents saying they would vote only for trustees in the upcoming elections who would limit the number of black residents. After the election, on 30 June 1829 township trustees and overseers of the poor issued a notice enforcing the 1807 Ohio
Black Law, saying that blacks had to post bonds of surety within 30 days, or face being expelled from the town and from Ohio, as the act would be "rigidly enforced." Leaders among the free black community had been considering other possibilities for settlement, as they were tired of discrimination in Ohio. They had learned that conditions in
Ontario, Canada, a destination of many fugitive slaves, appeared to be more accepting. They wanted a place where they could live without persecution. With publication of enforcement of the bond law, they feared mob violence. They appealed to the public for a three-month extension in order to be able to identify other places for relocation, and ran daily notices from July 30 to August 10 about their progress. ==Riots of 1829==