The Emergence of Political Machines
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- cities experienced rapid growth due to the government in the 19th centry
- The Political Machine
- the political machine was an organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in the city
- also they offer services to woters and business in exchange for political or financial support
- decades after the civil war political machines took control of local governments
- Baltimore, New York, San Fransico, and other major cities
- Organized like a pyramid
- Base- local workers and captians,tried to gain voters' support on a city block or in a neighborhood and who reported to a ward boss
- Ward boss- helped the poor and gained their votes by doing favors or providing services
- Top- city boss,controlled activities of political party throughout the city
- Base- local workers and captians,tried to gain voters' support on a city block or in a neighborhood and who reported to a ward boss
- ward bosses and city bosses worked together to elect their canidates and guarentee the success of the machine
- the political machine was an organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in the city
- The Role of the Political Boss
- controlled access to municipal jobs and business licenses and influcenced courts and other agencies
- some bosses used their power to build parks, sewer systems, hospitals, and orphanages
- they could provide support for new buisnesses
- Immigrants and The Machine
- some immigrants were only educated in grammer school
- they could talk to the immagrants in their own language and they understood what they were going through
- the machines help the immigrants get full citizenship, housing,and jobs
Municipal Graft and Scandal
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- many bosses fell victim to corruption and their influence grew
- Election Fraud and Graft
- some political machines made fake names to get the number of votes they needed
- once the canidate was in office, the PM took advantage of different opportunities
- GRAFT- the illegal use of political influence for personal gain
- PM granted favors to businesses in return for cash and accepted bribes to allow illegal activities to flourish
- the police barely interferred with the political bribes
- The Tweed Ring Scandal
- Boss Tweed escaped from prison on December 4,1875, and fled to Europe
- Between 1865 and 1871 tweed and his assistants stole millions of dollars from the city treasurer
- boss tweed political cartoons
- at least $4.9 million
- Boss Tweed
Civil Service Replaces Patronage
- Patronage Spurs Reform
- The giving of government jobs to prople who had helped a canidate get elected
- was known as the spoils system
- civil service- government administration
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