Tammany Hall

NYC’s Democratic Political Machine

Tammany Hallothe NYC Tammany Society first organized in the 1780s

onamed after a respected Delaware chieftain- Tamanend

The Cincinnati Society

o Established in 1783 among the leading officers of the Continental Army.

o Political supporters of George Washington: the gentleman warrior whose personal post-war actions mirrored those of the Roman citizen-general Cincinnatus

Tammany HalloAfter 1839, a Democratic Party affiliate

oServed an increasing Irish immigrant population from the famine years onward

“Boss” William Marcy

Tweedo1823-1878oGained top status at Tammany beginning in 1858

Tammany HalloBegan

construction on a New York County Courthouse that same year, estimated to cost $350,000

The Cash Cow Courthouse

oOver the next 12 years, the costs ballooned to

$13 million thanks to Tweed and his ring of Tammany & City Hall cronies

the “Tweed Ring”

“Spoils” at its worstoThe Courthouse

project was just a drop in the bucket of a city-wide system of political graft believed to total perhaps

$200 million

“Boss” Tweed’s share…

$50 million

“The Brains”

The “Tammany Tiger”

“…Those Damn Pictures!” Thomas

“Nasty” Nasto1840-1902o America’s

pioneering “muckraker” journalist

o Appointed Consul to Ecuador in 1902 by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, he died there of Yellow Fever

The Fall of the “Boss”

o December 15, 1871- off to prison (& eventual death) for “Boss” Tweed

Tammany Hall Reborno After 1872,

Tammany was dominated by

the Irish:“Honest”

John Kelly“Boss”

Richard Croker“Silent”

Charles Murphy

Thanks to Thomas Nast:

Thanks to Thomas Nast:

Thanks to Thomas Nast:

oHo! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!