Merchants complained about the poor neighborhoods along the river as having ill effects on their waterfront shops and trade with southern planters.
In June 1829 overseers of the poor announced that blacks would be required to post surety bonds of $500 (equivalent to $14,306 in 2023) within 30 days or face expulsion from the city and state.
The mob violence and destruction of their densely populated neighborhood in the First Ward caused an estimated 1,100-1,500 people of color to decide to leave Cincinnati altogether.
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.
[4] 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On that day the mayor, Isaac G. Burnet, dismissed charges against ten blacks who had been arrested; he imposed fines on eight whites.
[16] According to the accounts of Black Americans John Malvin and James C. Brown, their desire to exercise their civil rights and "live free from the trammels of social and unequal laws" was their chief inspiration for moving to Canada.
Black American leaders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which had a large population of free people of color, organized to found the first national Negro Convention in 1830.
Many of the lower class competed directly with people of color for jobs, especially as industrialization reduced the number of artisan craft positions.