Politics
In 1844 James Harper was elected American Republican Party mayor of New York for one-year term, defeating Locofoco Party candidate Jonathan I. Coddington and Whig Morris Franklin. James won the election by 4,316 votes.
He reformed the city police force and established the first municipal police force in 1844, based on planning undertaken earlier by Peter Cooper. In-fighting between the city alderman delayed full implementation of the reform plan, and Harper was only able to select 200 men for the force before he was ousted by voters in April 1845. He outfitted his "Harper's Police" in blue uniforms, which they felt made them targets of violence, and they lobbied successfully to wear street clothes. His successor William Havemeyer continued to reform the police force and was successful in expanding the force to 800 and beginning the establishment of station houses.
Harper banished free-roaming pigs from the streets of New York, and began work on establishing a citywide sanitation system. He was subsequently put forward for the governorship of the state; but he preferred to conduct the business of his firm rather than enter public life.
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