1. The largest decline in German immigration prior to 1915 was in —
B. 1911
C. 1912
D. 1913

2. TEKS
4 (A) evaluate the impact of Progressive Era reforms including initiative, referendum, recall, and the passage of the 16th and 17th amendments;

3. Politics of the Gilded Age

4. Political Machine
Political Machines—organized group that controlled a political party in a city and in return for supporting it offered services and business opportunities
City Boss
Controlled the activities of the party
throughout the city
Ward Boss
Worked to secure the vote in all the precincts
Helped the poor and performed favors to secure votes
Precinct workers and captains
They tried to gain voters’ support on city blocks or a neighborhood

5. Machine Politics Bosses were not necessarily evil.
Many performed very useful and valuable services for their communities
Roscoe Conking of NY built parks, sewer systems, and waterworks, he gave money to schools, hospitals, and orphanages.
The machines won loyal support from immigrants for providing services
After 1890 most these came from southern and eastern europe

6. Graft and Scandal
Graft—illegal use of political influence for personal gain
Since political machines controlled city government, they determined which companies received contracts to provide city services or complete projects—bribes helped secure contracts
The political machines enriched themselves with kickbacks, or illegal payments for their services

7. Boss Tweed William M. Tweed, aka Boss Tweed
Headed Tammany Hall NYC’s powerful Democratic machine from
He made a fortune from the bribes and kickbacks that he demanded in exchange of city contracts

8. Boss Tweed
Thomas Nast a political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly helped cause a moral outcry. The Tweed ring was broken and in 1871 he was indicted on 120 counts of fraud and sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Nast is credited with the Republican elephant, Democratic Donkey, Tameny Hall tiger, Santa Claus
Boss Tweed Confessed to everything thinkning he would get immunity…only one convicted
He only served one year, during a 2nd sentence he escapes flees to Spain, where is is recognized based on one of Nast’s cartoons!!!

9. Political Reform
Patronage- giving government jobs to those who helped candidate get elected
This was most obvious in the federal civil service , or government administration
Reformers argues that the federal government should promote employees based on ability
In 1876 President Rutherford B. Hayes created a commission to investigate the nation’s customs houses and fired two top officials based on the report

10. Political Reform
1881 President James A Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau
1883 Pendleton Act created the Civil Service System, jobs in government administration, jobs to go to the most qualified through a merit system

11. Tariffs
Republican business interests were big supporters of Tariffs or taxes on an imported goods, to protect their business interests
Grover Cleveland, Democrat, tried unsuccessfully to lower the tariff
His successor, Benjamin Harrison, got the McKinley Tariff of 1890 passed, which raised the tariff to the highest level yet, 48.4%
When Cleveland was returned to the White House in 1892, he tried again to lower the tariff