1. Industrialization & Political Machines
Age of Prosperity
(for some)

2. Age of the Robber Barons:
The Robber Baron were entrepreneurs and industrialists who built great fortunes.
Andrew Carnegie – US Steel
John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil
The government created policies to support
the industrialists.
Government supported owners over workers in labor disputes.

3. Ups and Downs of the Economy
Just as today the economy went through periods of growth and depression
Major depressions occurred in 1873 and 1893
Farmers were especially hit hard as high US tariffs led European nations to refuse to buy US agricultural products

4. Wage Discrepancy
While great wealth was being created and an emerging middle class was gaining power the number of poor was also growing.
The poor were mainly immigrants,
minorities, or unskilled laborers
who flooded into the cities looking
for work in the factories
The new industrialization led to increased production for farmers which sounds like a good thing but actually led to lower prices for agricultural products.

5. Changing social structure and beginnings of reform
A major problem of industrialization was child labor. To ensure the family could eat all members generally had to work. That meant children as young as 6 worked
Employers loved child labor because even though the average unskilled worker only earned about 10 cents and hour you could pay women and
children even less.
The average work day was hours.
No health insurance, no workers safety
standards, and no unemployment
insurance.
Muckrakers, journalists who wrote to expose the problems in society, government and business, would soon tackle many of these growing problems

6. Adventures in the Spoils System
The Political Machine
Adventures in the Spoils System

7. Elements of the Political Machine
Bosses which controlled the politicians
District captains who mobilized and organized support at the neighborhood level
Party loyalists who supported the machine with votes and money in return for jobs or favors

8. How it worked
The “Machine” ran on patronage or securing jobs for supporters. Also called the spoils system
Bosses dealt with government officials, businesses and sometimes criminal elements to achieve the “machine” goals
Captains dealt with the voters by providing:
Jobs
Food and shelter
Cheap immigrant labor for businesses that gave money to the machine

9. Tammany Hall (Democratic political machine of New York City)
Run by William “Boss” Tweed
Most famous of the big city
Machines
“Boss” Tweed would be convicted
of graft and corruption. He was
found guilty on 204 of the 220
counts brought against him. The
most serious being theft of
25 million in tax payer money.

10. Tammany Hall cont.
Tweed was brought down by political cartoonist Thomas Nast
Nast used his Tammany Tiger cartoon to show the misdeeds of the Tammany Hall Machine
Nast also created the
symbols for the 2 political
parties the Democrat Donkey
and Republican Elephant.
But probably his most famous
creation is our image of Santa Claus

11. “Stop those damn pictures. I don’t care what the papers write about me
“Stop those damn pictures. I don’t care what the papers write about me. My constituents can’t read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures.”