Today Dajsa and Andrea presented on Chapter 7 Section 3. The key questions for this section are...What was the political machine and what did they do for a city?I learned that the political machine was an organized group that controlled the activities of a political party. They offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for support. Their "support" was usually political or financial. The machine was organized like a pyramid. I learned that at the top of the pyramid was the Political Boss and at the bottom were usually immigrants or common people. The political boss may or not be the real mayor, but he still had access to jobs and business licenses. I learned that they used their power to build parks, sewer systems, and waterworks. They even gave money to schools, hospitals, and orphanages. The boss could usually talk to immigrants in their home language and understood the problems that they were facing. The boss could also help immigrants wiht naturalization. I learned that Naturalization is also referred to as attaining citizenship. In return the immigrants would promis the boss, their political votes.Tell me about Boss Tweed and the Tweed Ring.William M. Tweed was know as Boss Tweed. I learned that he led the Tweed Ring which was a group of corrupt politicians that defrauded the city. One thing they did was have taxpayers pay 13 million dollar to build the New York County Courthouse, when it really only cost 3 million dollars. I also learned that the 10 million dollar difference went to Boss Tweed and the Tweed Ring. In 1871 the Tweed Ring was finally broken up. Another thing that I learned was that William M. Tweed was charged with 120 counts of fraud and extortion.What caused all this corruption in government?What laws came about to reform government?Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland and William Mckinley were all presidents during the late 1800's. Were they a reform president or a status quo president?
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