Franklin House, ca. 1830-1840. Collection New-York Historical Society. Gift of W. Johnson Quinn.
As many as 100,000 wealthy white southerners escaped the summer heat each year to trade, shop, and join the social scene in New York and resorts like Saratoga and Newport. Their pro-slavery principles were echoed by almost every New York newspaper. They ridiculed black aspirations for equal rights in voting, education, and employment. Even after slavery was abolished in New York, southern visitors could keep the slaves they brought north for up to nine months. New York merchants and politicos knew their bread was buttered on the southern side.

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The city of New York was virtually an annex of the South, the New York merchants having extensive and very profitable business relations with the merchants south of the Mason and Dixon line.

The South was the best customer of New York. I often said in those days, "Our merchants have for sale on their shelves their principles, together with their merchandise."

—   Abram J. Dittenhoefer, New York lawyer (1836-1916)
A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Store, 1851. Collection New-York Historical Society.