Over time, urban factory workers and unskilled laborers lived in well-defined neighborhoods of crowded boardinghouses or tiny apartments, often with filthy conditions.
Many wage earners turned to alcohol as a form of solace; grogshops and tippling houses appeared on almost every block in working-class districts, and police were unable to contain the lawlessness that erupted.
D. The Benevolent Empire
During the 1820s Congregational and Presbyterian ministers linked with merchants and their wives to launch a program of social reform and regulation.