Corruption of City Government
• With new problems of urbanization never had
the role of city government been more
important.
• This importance gave local government
officials quite a bit of power.
The Political Machine
• An unofficial city organization designed to
keep a particular party or group in power
usually headed by a single powerful “boss”
who often held public office.
• It operated on the Spoils System (patronage
and kickback).
• Immigrants were attracted to the political
machine because they needed help getting
their feet on the ground and the machine
wanted their political support and vote.
• People blamed immigrants for their success
Graft
• City Bosses and members of the political
machine would use their position/job to gain
profit.
• This was a major source of income for the
machine.
The City Boss
Ward Bosses
Precinct Captains and
Workers
Tammany Hall
• Notorious Boss William Tweed
• Tammany Hall (the political club that ran NYC’s
Democratic Party).
• Use all kinds of Graft once in power of the
cities treasury in 1870.
- padded bills for construction projects and
contracts with fake expenses and kept the extra
money for themselves
Thomas Nast
• German immigrant journalist/political
cartoonist.
• Use his influence and cartoons to expose
Tweed’s methods to public
• Tweed would go to jail in 1873, but Tammany
Hall would dominate NYC’s politics for another
half century.