Chapter 23
Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age
Think about Washington, Jackson, Clay,
Lincoln….
Political Machines
•  Political machines were organized groups
of dishonest politicians who had two
main goals:
▫  1. Get the group's own candidates elected to all
of the top jobs in the city government.
▫  2. Once in control of the city government, use
that power to make the leaders of the
organization rich.
“Boss” Tweed
•  The top man in a political
machine was called the
city "Boss."
•  The most famous
example was William M.
Tweed. From around
1860 until 1872 Boss
Tweed ran a political
machine that controlled
New York City's
government.
How Political Machines Won Elections
•  To win elections, a political machine depended on the
votes of the immigrants pouring into America's cities.
•  The organization would have its members active in all
of the city's neighborhoods. These neighborhood leaders
would meet new immigrants and give them help of
various kinds, such as help finding a job or a place to
live.
• 
On election day, the neighborhood leader would make
sure the immigrants knew who to vote for to return the
favor.
Tweed Arrested and Imprisoned
•  Tweed was finally
exposed for his crimes by
New York Times.
•  Arrested in 1871, later
convicted, and died in jail
in 1878.
Benefits of Political Machines?
•  Boss Tweed and his political machine (known as
Tammany Hall) did some good things for New York City.
▫  He pushed for improvements to the city's public
schools, hospitals, roads, and the city water system.
▫  Members of the organization made it a point to give
help to the immigrants and other poor people of the
city.
▫  That help, no matter how small, would be remembered
for a long time. When Tweed died, thousands of New
Yorkers attended his funeral.
Honest Graft?
Honest Graft vs. Dishonest Graft?
Is there a difference?
Other Corrupt Politics of the Gilded Age
•  Jim Fisk and Jay Gould devised a plot to
drastically raise the price of the gold market in
1869- “Black Friday” (Sept. 24) bought a large
amount of gold, planning to sell it for a profit
•  In order to lower the high price of gold, the
Treasury was forced to sell gold from its reserves
Credit Mobilier Scandal of 1872
  The Credit Mobilier scandal erupted in 1872 when
Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed the Credit
Mobilier construction company and then hired
themselves at inflated prices to build the railroad
line, earning high dividends (348%)
  When it was found out that govt officials were paid
to stay quiet about the illicit business, some officials
were reprimanded. (VP also took bribes from the
company)
Compromise of 1877
•  Background▫  Election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes
( R ) and Samuel J. Tilden (D)
▫  Tilden won popular vote but was 1 vote shy in
Electoral College
•  Compromise and the end of Reconstruction▫  Electoral Count Act passed by Congress in 1877
▫  Established Electoral commission consisting of 15
men selected from the Senate, the HoR, and S.C.
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
Compromise Reached
•  Committee determined that the Republican
Party had won.
•  Democrats were furious- only agreed that Hayes
could take office if….
▫  He withdrew the federal troops from Louisiana
and S. Carolina
▫  The Hayes-Tilden deal had the Republican Party
abandon their commitment to racial equality
Reconfiguration of southern agriculture:
Sharecropping and Crop Lien System
•  As Reconstruction ended, white Democrats resumed
their political power in the South
▫  Began exercising discrimination on blacks
▫  Blacks were forced into sharecropping and tenant farming
▫  “Crop-lien” system- small farmers who rented out land
from the plantation owners were kept in debt and forced to
continue to work for the owners
▫  Lien- Law. the legal claim of one person upon the property
of another person to secure the payment of a debt or the
satisfaction of an obligation.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz = Populism?
Jim Crow Laws
•  State-level legal codes of segregation developed
in the 1890s
•  Southern states also enacted literacy
requirements, voter-registration laws, and poll
taxes to ensure full-scale disenfranchisement of
blacks
•  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
▫  “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional
under the “equal protection” clause of the 14th
Amendment