Conflicts in Paterson and in American Culture and Society in Johnson's Sam Patch

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Sam Patch Paper Assignment
American society has undergone numerous transformations. Such changes have often brought conflicts between groups. One of the notable occurrences is the industrialization of post-revolutionary America. The proponents of domestic manufacturing demonstrated that factories would not threaten agriculture or the independence of farmers. However, industrialization gave rise to wealthy owners (the middle class) and poor workers (the working class). Paul E. Johnson, in “Sam Patch, The Famous Jumper”, demonstrates the conflict between the working class at Paterson and a sawmill owner named Timothy B. Crane because of the construction of the Forest Garden and the charging of the Clinton Bridge.
The working class at Paterson opposed the Forest Garden. These included Crane’s old associates in the fire companies, sawmill, construction site and storytelling groups. For a long time, working-class men had excluded women from most of the significant activities in the neighborhood. However, Crane sought to include women in the Forest Garden. His idea was the facility would cater for respectable women and their male escorts. Such a move excluded Crane’s old associates, most of whom belonged to his old social world (Johnson 49).
Further, Crane broke the informal and democratic society by defining what it meant to be respectable and exhibit good behavior. Crane started by withdrawing from the old male democracy when he married Maria Ryerson, the daughter of one of the old families in New York City. At the time, Crane was 54, while Maria was 24. When Crane married the polished lady, he withdrew from his old friends. He developed a new interest in exclusivity and romantic sentimentalism, which sent a signal to the old friends of his changed way of life (Johnson 50). The working-class men felt that Crane was no longer one of them. Instead, Crane proceeded to become an investor in the American bourgeois culture.
Moreover, the working class continued to oppose the move because they felt it excluded them from the customary use of the falls. Crane charged individuals who wanted to use the bridge to access the falls. Such a move angered most working class, who could not afford such charges. Besides, working people knew that the north bank was a place for retreat from the city. Here, people could come and play without restrictions. About half a mile away, a family called Godwin operated a tavern. From Godwin’s t...