INTRO TO GILDED AGE & PROGRESSIVE ERA Political Machines to Recall

The Gilded Age was an era of political corruption in national, state, and urban governments

Political Machine: The best example of ethnic group organization was called the Political Machine. This was an organization of political and community leaders that manipulated democracy for material gain. Leaders of an ethnic community would use their influence to raid public funds and offer rewards such as jobs, housing and neighborhood improvements to loyal community members and immigrants in exchange for Votes Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall of New York City, were infamous for their political strength and corruption. They were reputed to have stolen millions in public funds.

Many city governments were run by political machines Because machine politicians controlled access to city jobs, business licenses, and building projects, they tended to be corrupt Many politicians used fraud to win elections, used their influence for personal gain (graft), or took bribes The most notorious urban politician was Boss Tweed of New York’s Tammany Hall political machine The “Tweed Ring” defrauded New York City of millions of dollars until it was exposed by reporter Thomas Nast

Many government positions,such as tax collectors or post office officials, were appointed as rewards for loyalty to a political party (called patronage) Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883 that created merit- based exams for most civil service jobs in the federal government

Pendleton Civil Service Act 1883 The Pendleton Civil Service Act established an independent three-member Civil Service Commission that would fill government jobs on the basis of an entrance exam and not favoritism- Anti-Corruption measure in order to end Patronage

Recall, Referendum, Initiative Recall = Voters hold the power to remove a public official from office before the next election Referendum = A process by which voters approve bills offered by the legislature Initiative = A process by which special interest groups, through voter participation, can propose bills to their legislature for a vote.