Gilded Age Politics

1. Gilded Age Politics

2. Gilded Age
• Mark Twain coined the term—describes the
excesses of the late 19th century
– Political bribes
– “glittering exterior” hides corruption & gap b/w rich
and poor

3. Political Machines
• Pol. Machine = group that controls the
activities of a political party in a city
– Offered services to voters & businesses in
exchange for political support
– Controlled: New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, &
other cities
– Worked to elect their candidates

4. Political Machine
City Boss—
controlled activities
of city
Ward Bosses—
worked to secure vote in
all precincts in their ward
Precinct Captains—
tried to gain voters on a city block or
neighborhood

6. Political Boss
• Sometimes served as mayor
• Controlled access to gov. jobs & business
licenses
• Influenced courts
• Positive role:
– Built sewer systems; gave money to
schools, hospitals, orphanages
– Helped immigrants w/ naturalization & jobs
– By solving these problems, they could gain more
votes

8. Graft & Fraud
• Many political machines used election fraud
– People used fake names to vote several times
• Graft = illegal use of political infl. for personal
gain
– Kick backs = when you charge more than necessary
for a job (labor) and give the extra money to the
political machine
– Accepted bribes for illegal activity
• Police rarely interfered

9. Do you think grafts (using political influence
for personal gain) are still a major issue
today?
Give an example.

10. Boss Tweed Scandal
• Boss Tweed—head of Tammany Hall in NYC
• “Tweed Ring”—group of corrupt politicians
• New York City County Courthouse—over-
charged the city by $10 million
– His “ring” kept the money
– Jailed for this

13. Reforms in Politics
• Patronage—giving civil service jobs (gov.
jobs) to people who had helped the candidate
get elected
– Reforms wanted jobs to go to most qualified
• 1880—Pres. James Garfield elected
– Appointed people based on qualifications
– July 2, 1881—Garfield assassinated by a man that
had been turned down for a gov. job
• Pendleton Civil Service Act—appoint people
for gov. jobs based on merit/qualifications

14. Presidential Curse
• Between 1840 and 1960, all 8 Presidents
elected in a 0 ended year died in office
• Only one president has ever died in office
outside this 20 year death cycle
– Zachary Taylor who was elected in 1848 and died in
1850

15. 20 Year Cycle
• President Died
• 1800 Jefferson Survived: Died July 4, 1826.
• 1820 Monroe Survived: Died July 4, 1831.
• 1840 Harrison April 4, 1841. Pneumonia.
• 1860 Lincoln April 15, 1865. Assassinated.
• 1880 Garfield September 19, 1881. Assassinated.
• 1900 McKinley September 14, 1901. Assassinated.
• 1920 Harding August 2, 1923. Food poisoning.
• 1940 Roosevelt April 12, 1945. Stroke, medical records
missing.
• 1960 Kennedy November 22, 1963. Assassinated.
• 1980 Reagan March 30, 1981. Assassination attempt.
Survived: Died June 5, 2004.
• 2000 G W Bush Survived.

16. Political Machine Web
• Create an ILLUSTRATED web diagram showing the
major aspects of the Political Machine
• You need a 5 aspects
• Draw a picture to represent each aspect
Election
fraud
POLITICAL
MACHINE