WARM UP ①  Create a bubble map on urbanization in the USA

②  You can use information from the web, your urbanization investigation, prior knowledge

③  Your bubble map must have 20 bubbles!!!!

POLITICS OF THE GILDED AGE

THE POLITICS OF THE GILDED AGE I.  Politics in the Gilded Age were dominated by

limited government, laissez-fairepolitics & Social Darwinism

II.  The time period was full of political corruption & ineffective governments

A.  Government is useless/does nothing

B.  Government takes bribes & uses their political power to benefit themselves instead of the people

POLITICAL MACHINES I.  During the Gilded Age most cities (all of

politics) were run by a political machines A.  Organization that controlled the political decisions

of a city

II.  Political machines offered services to voters in

exchange for votes A.  Problem: cities grew too fast to provide the

necessary services to poor B.  Solution: political machines offered services to poor

in exchange for votes

The Political Machine

Cities

City governments

Didn’t provide: jobs, financial aid, protection, sanitation etc.

Political Machine steps in

Provided services and business help in exchange for

votes and money

RISEOFPOLITICALMACHINESI.  Ascitiesgrewinthelate19thcenturysodidthe

politicalmachinesthatcontrolledthem

II.  Politicalmachinestookcontrolofentirecitiesanddefrauded(stole)millionsoftaxdollars

ROLEOFTHEPOLITICALBOSS

I.   The“Boss”(typicallythemayor)A.   Controlledjobs,localcourts,contracts,

businesses

II.   Poli@calmachineshelpedimmigrantswith:

A.   Naturaliza@on,Jobs&Housing

III.  Thesepoli@calmachinesprovidedtheseservicesinexchangeforvotesturningvotesintomoney&power

BossTweedranNYC

POLITICALCORRUPTIONI.  ManyBossesgotrichthroughGRAFT-theillegaluseof

poliFcalinfluenceforpersonalgain.A.  AccepFngbribesorkickbacks(extramoney)

II.  BossesdidanythingtowinelecFonsthroughelec$onfraud-filledthelistofeligiblevotersw/namesofdogs,children,&thedead.

I.  Civil Service A.  Merit based jobs B.  Job goes to most

qualified candidate C.  Qualified for the job

I.  Patronage A.  Giving away

government jobs to people who helped you get elected

B.  Workers are unqualified C.  Steal money from

taxpayers

CIVILSERVICEVS.PATRONAGE

CIVILSERVICEREPLACESPATRONAGE

I.   Patronage led to unqualified government workers à also led to death of President Garfield in 1881

II.   Reformers pushed for an adoption of a

merit system or hiring the most qualified people for jobs

III.   The Pendleton Civil Service Act of

1883 required appointments for federal jobs based on performance

Applicants for federal jobs are required to take a Civil

Service Exam

BOSS TWEED AND TAMMANY HALL

THETWEEDRINGI.   William M. Tweed,(Boss Tweed) led head

Tammany Hall à NYC’s powerful political machine

II.   The Tweed Ring politicians defrauded the city

of between 40-200 million dollars A.   EX: new court house – 3 million à taxpayers

spent 13 million = 10 mil for Tweed III.   Most powerful and corrupt political machine

in the United States.

Boss Tweed

GILDED AGE POLITICS I.  The Gilded Age was a time period of corruption in

American politics

II.  Political machines controlled cities and often stole tax dollars through graft and kickbacks

III.  Governments in the USA were corrupt and there was little effort to fix them

IV.  The USA needs immediate changes to fix the broken political system

ARE YOU WITH ME?? ①  What is patronage? What is the spoils system?

②  Explain the creation of political machines?

③  What methods did political machines use to benefit themselves?

④  What was the name of the most famous political machine?

⑤  What law required that government workers be qualified for the jobs that they have?