“Ugliness Beneath”

Gilded Age

Political Machine• Organized political group headed by a political

boss• Offered services• …but expected:• Relationship with immigrants• Corruption/graft• Boss Tweed (William)• Tammany Hall (NYC)

POLITICAL BOSS• controlled activities of a political party in a

city.• Offered services to voters & businesses in

exchange for political or financial support.– For example: jobs, place to live, bailed out of jail

for petty crimes

• Took advantage of immigrants

GRAFT• Many Bosses got rich through GRAFT-the

illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

• To win elections, some filled the list of eligible voters w/names of dogs, children, & the dead.

BOSS TWEED& TAMMANY HALL

• William Marcy Tweed, a.k.a. “Boss Tweed”, one of the most powerful political bosses.

• Became head of Tammany Hall, New York City’s most powerful Democratic machine.

©CSCOPE 2008 6

Boss Tweed

Picture from Boss Tweed Pagehttp://www.polaris.edu/iltli/Tchrpgs/Tweed.htm

"Stop them damn pictures. I don't care what the papers write about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures."

Tammany Tiger on top of

Manhattan

Political Machine - My notes may look like this:

• Organized political group headed by a political boss- controlled activities of a political party

• Offered services -jobs, housing, bail $• …but expected: a vote in return for services• Relationship with immigrants -taken advantage of• Corruption/graft –illegal use of political influence

for personal gain• Boss Tweed (William) –Political boss in NY• Tammany Hall (NYC) –NYC’s Democratic Political

Machine

Patronage—Spoils System• Andrew Jackson• Civil Service• Assassination of President Garfield• Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)

-established exams/qualifications

-protects against political pressure

-political changes should not effect services (keep skilled employees on the

job)

-jobs are positions held by civilians in a government agency (police officers, fire fighters,

public defenders)

Treatment of Minorities

• Legalized segregation• De facto segregation• Literacy tests• Poll tax• Racism• Lynching

Problems of Urbanization

• High population• Tenement living• Poverty• Sanitation/pollution• Child labor• Alcoholism

Problems of Industrialization

• Unskilled labor replaced skilled labor• Child Labor• Low wages• long hours• Unsafe working environment• Blacklists against organized labor

unions• No political power for working poor

Negative Effects of Laissez-faire

• No regulation of wages, working hours/week

• No help when injured on the job• Child labor• Discrimination• Govt preferential treatment of

management/ownership over workers

Huge Disparity between those who have everything…and those (most

Americans) who have little…