1. #23 Ch 7 S 3
Details:
Read & Notes Ch 7 S 3
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2. Political Machines & Civil Service Reform
Chapter 7
Section 3
Political Machines &
Civil Service Reform

3. California Academic Standards:
11.2.4: Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses of immigrants and middle class reformers to political machines
What effect did political machines have?
How did immigrants respond to them?
How did middle class reformers respond to them?

4. Objectives:
Following lecture and reading of this section, students will be able to:
Explain the role of political machines and political bosses
Describe how politicians’ greed and fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars
Describe measures taken by presidents Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to reform the spoils system
Explain the positions taken by presidents Cleveland, Harrison, And McKinley on the tariff issue.

5. Explain the role of political machines and political bosses

6. Political Machines Run the City
Rapid growth, inefficient government, and a climate of Social Darwinism opened the way for a new power structure, the political machine, and a new politician, the city boss
Corrupt politicians made millions at the expense of other through the use of graft
Graft- The illegal use of political influence for personal gain
In major cities, political machines provide services to voters in exchange for political or financial support.
Political machine- an organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city.
A pyramid structure in which a lot of people at the bottom supporting one man at the top, the boss.

7. Political Machines Run the City cont.
Boss
Ward Bosses
Precinct Captains
Immigrant Workers

8. Political Machines Run the City cont.
Political Bosses:
Controlled the activities of the party throughout the city
Assigned thousands of municipal jobs
Regulated business licenses and inspections
Controlled the sanitation, fire, and police departments
Relied on immigrants for loyalty so the machines were sympathetic to their issues
Were usually immigrants who worked their way up through the political system
Got rich from graft

9. Political Machines Run the City cont.
Political Machines provided many services to immigrants and the poor in exchange for votes:
jobs
legal assistance
support

10. Explain the role of political machines and political bosses

11. Describe how politicians’ greed and fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars

12. Municipal Graft and Scandal
Tammany Hall, led by Boss Bill Tweed, was NY city’s powerful Democratic political machine.
To maintain their power and to make money, some political machines turned to election fraud, bribery, and graft.

13. Municipal Graft and Scandal cont.
Election Fraud
Power of machines and loyalty of voters was sometimes not enough to stay in power.
They registered people who were dead and even their pets and cast as many votes needed to win.
Philadelphia once had 252 votes cast in an area with 100 legal voters.

14. Municipal Graft and Scandal cont.
Bribery
Kickbacks were illegal payments.
Contractors would work on projects for the city, they would agree to charge more money than the actual cost, then a plan was created in which the contractor would kickback some of the extra money to the machine.
Bosses also allowed for illegal activities to go on in exchange for hush money.
The police rarely interfered with machines because the boss controlled them until about 1890.

15. Municipal Graft and Scandal cont.
Political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, helped bring down Boss Tweed, jailed in 1873, for fraud.

16. Describe how politicians’ greed and fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars

17. Checking For Understanding
Who was in charge of the city political machine?
Political Boss
Where did political machines get most of their support from?
Immigrants
How did political machines stay in power?
Election fraud, bribery, & graft
Who was the political boss of NY political machine & what was the name of the NY political machine?
Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall

18. Describe measures taken by presidents Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to reform the spoils system

19. Civil Service Replaces Patronage
The spoils system- a system where winners of presidential elections won “the spoils” of appointing their own employees to civil service.
Also known as patronage, the spoils system, resulted in incompetence and fraud in the federal government.
Reformers, people who want change, wanted a federal merit system to decide how government jobs were given.
based on qualifications (tests) not favors.

20. Civil Service Replaces Patronage cont.
Rutherford B. Hayes (R), elected as president in 1876, he took measures to reform civil service.
Named independents (I) to his cabinet instead of Republican Party members.
Set up a commission to investigate customs houses (which were mostly all corrupt).
After investigation he fired two top officials, upsetting the NY senator and political boss Roscoe Conkling.
Chester A. Arthur happened to be one of those fired.

21. Civil Service Replaces Patronage cont.
Hayes did not run for reelection in 1880.
Free for all broke out at the national convention over who would run.
James A. Garfield is nominated as an independent (I) because Republicans who wanted reform (reformers) conflicted with republicans who wanted to stay loyal to the party (Stalwarts).
Chester A. Arthur (Stalwart) ran as Garfield’s vice-president.

22. Civil Service Replaces Patronage cont.
Garfield won the 1880 election.
Assassinated the following year, by a stalwart.
Arthur (stalwart) became president as a result of Garfield’s death.

23. Civil Service Replaces Patronage cont.
Arthur switched his position from stalwart to reformer though when he became president.
Under Arthur’s civil service reform, Congress passes the Pendleton Act in 1883.
The Pendleton Act authorized a bipartisan (group made up of members of both political parties) civil service commission to make federal job appointments through the merit system, based on performance on an examination.

24. Describe measures taken by presidents Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to reform the spoils system

25. Explain the positions taken by presidents Cleveland, Harrison, And McKinley on the tariff issue.

26. Efforts to Regulate Tariffs Fail
Because candidates could no longer get money through the spoils system, the door was open for business and government to get together.
Businesses could now contribute to candidates campaigns.
Americans agreed that tariffs (taxes on imported goods) were necessary to protect domestic (U.S.) industries from foreign business competition.

27. Efforts to Regulate Tariffs Fail cont.
In 1884, Grover Cleveland, 1st Democrat to hold office in 28 years, is unsure of what to do with tariffs.
In 1888 Grover Cleveland runs on a low-tariff platform and loses the presidency to Benjamin Harrison, who raised tariffs.
Harrison lost the popular vote but gained the electoral vote and passed the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890.
Raised tariffs to their highest level ever.

28. Efforts to Regulate Tariffs Fail cont.
1892, Cleveland elected again.
In his second term, Cleveland failed to lower tariffs again.
In 1897, McKinley became president and again tariffs were raised.

29. Explain the positions taken by presidents Cleveland, Harrison, And McKinley on the tariff issue.

30. Checking For Understanding
Explain patronage.
Giving civil service government jobs in exchange for favors or campaign help.
Which president came in and reformed civil service by investigating corrupt customs houses?
Hayes
Who changed from stalwart to reformer once in office, and what reform act did he get passed?
Arthur, Pendleton Act (tests for civil service)
What was the best way for the U.S. government to protect U.S. businesses?
Raising tariffs

31. #23 Ch 7 S 3 Details: Read & Notes Ch 7 S 3 Margin ?s: A-D (4)
Study Guide ?s 1-11 (11)