Transcript IMMIGRANTS AND URBANIZATION

THE POLITICAL
MACHINE
OBJECTIVES:
• Explain the role of political machines and
political bosses
• Describe how some politician’s greed and
fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars
POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE
• As cities grew in the late 19th century, so did
political machines
• Political machines controlled the activities of a
political party in a city
New York’s Solar
System, 1898
ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS
• The “Boss” (typically the mayor)
controlled:
• Jobs
• business licenses
• court system
• Precinct captains and ward
bosses:
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•
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•
1st or 2nd generation immigrants
Helped with naturalization
Jobs
Housing
• All in exchange for votes for the boss
Boss Tweed ran NYC
HOW WOULD POLITICAL BOSSES
STAY IN POWER?
• Political machines used fake names and voted
multiple times to ensure victory (“Vote early and
often”) – called Election fraud
• Graft (bribes) was common among political
bosses
• Construction contracts often resulted in “kickbacks”
• The fact that police forces were hired by the
boss prevented close scrutiny
THE TWEED RING SCANDAL
• William M. Tweed, known
as Boss Tweed, became
head of Tammany Hall,
NYC’s powerful
Democratic political
machines
• Between 1869-1871,
Tweed led the Tweed Ring,
a group of corrupt
politicians, in defrauding
the city $20 million
•Tweed was eventually
indicted on 120 counts
of fraud and extortion
(Brought down by
cartoonist Thomas
Nast)
•Tweed was sentenced
to 12 years in jail –
released after one,
arrested again, and
escaped to Spain
POLITICAL CARTOON ANALYSIS:
NAST VS. TWEED
• Thomas Nast= "Father of the American
Cartoon“
• Nast's drawings were instrumental in the
downfall of Boss Tweed
• Your Task: use the cartoon analysis sheet
to peek into the deeper meaning of the
following Nast drawings
“THAT’S WHAT’S THE MATTER”
GANGS OF NEW YORK CLIP
• Leo DiCaprio- Amsterdam Vallon
• Daniel Day-Lewis- Bill “The Butcher” Cutting
• Jim Broadbent- “Boss” Tweed
• What You Are Looking For:
• Political Machine Organization
• City Boss, Ward Boss, Precinct Captain
• Scorsese’s opinion of political machines
EXIT TICKET:
• WHO HAD THE POLITICAL POWER
THEN?
• DOES THIS KIND OF CORRUPTION
EXIST TODAY?
•
Give THREE examples