Politics in the Gilded Age Unit 3, Ch. 7.3: Politics in the Gilded Age

The Emergence of Political Machines: In cities, people lived in cramped tenements, had to deal with issues like lack of fresh water, poor sanitation, fire, & crime. On top of this they had inefficient gov. Cities were open to a new power structure called the political machine, controlled by a politician called the city boss.

The Political Machine: An organized group controlled the political party in a city, called the political machine, it offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support. In the decades after the Civil War, political machines took control of local government in Baltimore, NYC, San Francisco, and other major cities. The machine was organized like a pyramid, at the base were the local workers and captains. They tried to gain support at the local level and reported a ward boss. At election time, this ward boss secured votes in that precinct. At the top of the pyramid was the city boss, who controlled the activities of the political party and worked to elect officials.

The Role of the political boss: Whether the boss served as mayor or not, he controlled access to city jobs and business licenses, and influenced courts and other city agencies. Bosses gave money to build parks, sewer systems, schools, hospitals, etc. They could also provide support for businesses, and they were paid very well to do that. In return they gained loyalty from voters, which extended their influence.

Immigrants and the Machine: Many of these bosses and captains were first or second generation immigrants, and few of them had much education. They worked their way from the bottom up, and since they were immigrants they could understand those challenges and gained loyalty from those groups. They were able to help immigrants with naturalization, housing, and jobs. In return they got votes.

Municipal Graft and Scandal: When loyalty of voters wasn’t enough to carry an election, some machines turned to fraud, using fake names to cast extra votes. Once elected, they could turn to graft (using political influence for personal gain). They could have workers charge more for materials than they cost, and then pocket the difference. They also turned to bribes.

The Tweed Ring Scandal: William Tweed, known as Boss Tweed, became head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s powerful political machine. He led the Tweed Ring, and used his influence to build the NYC courthouse. He charged taxpayers 13 million, it cost 3 million. He and followers pocketed the rest. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, helped arouse public outrage. The Ring was finally broker in 1871, and Tweed was sentenced to jail.

Civil Service Replaces patronage: Patronage, the giving of gov. jobs to people who had helped a candidate get elected had been grown during the industrial age. Many times, this meant that unqualified people got power they didn’t deserve and often used for personal gain. Reformers began to press for this to stop, and give positions based on merit. Civil servants should be qualified for their jobs.

Reforms under Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur: Rutherford B. Hayes couldn’t get Congress to support reform, so he named independents to his cabinet and set up a commission to investigate customhouses (which were notorious for patronage). He fired top officials in NYC’s customshouse, which angered a Republican group called the Stalwarts. When James Garfield became president, his VP was Chester A. Arthur, a stalwart. Garfield was killed by a Stalwart assassin, hoping it would mean an end to reforms.

Arthur turned reformer when he became president Arthur turned reformer when he became president. He urged Congress to pass the Pendleton Civil Service Act to authorize a bipartisan civil service commission to make appointments to federal jobs through a merit system. This helped make public administration more honest and efficient, but with no pressure for employees to contribute to campaigns… politicians had to turn to other sources.

Business Buys Influence: Business became the primary source of campaign contributions. They hoped that government would preserve, or even raise, the tariffs that protected domestic industries from foreign competition. Grover Cleveland tried to do this, but Congress wouldn’t support it. Benjamin Harris won the election afterward, funded by massive business contributions, and signed the McKinley Tariff Act to raise the tariffs.