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Tammany Hall

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« on: February 10, 2008, 04:46:15 am »




Tammany Hall on East 14th Street, NYC, between Third Avenue and Irving Place

Tammany Hall was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics from the 1790s to the 1960s. It usually controlled Democratic Party nominations and patronage in Manhattan from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 up to (but not including) the election of Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934, whereupon it weakened and collapsed.
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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2008, 04:48:09 am »

1789–1850

The Tammany Society was founded on May 12, 1789. The name "Tammany" comes from Tamanend, a Native American leader of the Lenape. The society adopted many Native American words and customs, going so far as to call its hall a wigwam. The first Grand Sachem, as the leader was titled, was William Mooney, an upholsterer of Nassau Street. [1] By 1798 the Society's activities had grown increasingly politicized and eventually Tammany, led by Aaron Burr, who was never actually a member, [2] emerged as the center for Democratic-Republican Party politics in the city. Burr built the Tammany society into a political machine for the election of 1800, in which he was elected Vice President. Without Tammany, historians believe, President John Adams might have won New York state's electoral votes and won reelection. [3] In 1830, the Society's headquarters were established on East 14th Street in a building called Tammany Hall, and thereafter the name of the building and the group were synonymous.

After 1839, Tammany became the city affiliate of the Democratic Party, emerging as the controlling interest in New York City elections after Andrew Jackson's. In the 1830s the Loco-Focos comprised a democratic, anti-monopoly faction that appealed to workingmen. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s the Society expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's ever-expanding immigrant community, which functioned as a base of political capital. The Tammany Hall "ward boss" served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. New York City used the designation "ward" for its smallest political units from 1686–1938.

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2008, 04:49:22 am »

Immigrant Support

Tammany Hall’s electoral base lay predominantly with New York’s burgeoning immigrant constituency, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall’s patronage. In pre-New Deal America the extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines offered served as a rudimentary, if inadequate, public welfare system. The patronage Tammany Hall provided to immigrants, many of whom lived in extreme poverty and received little government assistance, covered three key areas. First, Tammany provided the means of physical existence in times of emergency: food, coal, rent money or a job. Second, Tammany served as a powerful intermediary between immigrants and the unfamiliar state, from dealing with the police and the bureaucracy to simply obtaining a pushcart license. Third, Tammany officials offered friendship and social intercourse to immigrants who found themselves in an unfamiliar social setting.[4]

Tammany’s services are exemplified by a diary entry of ward boss George Washington Plunkitt in which during the course of a day he assisted the victims of a house fire; secured the release of six “drunks” by speaking on their behalf to a judge; paid the rent of a poor family to prevent their eviction and gave them money for food; secured employment for four men; attended the funerals of two of his constituents (one Italian, the other Jewish); attended a Bar Mitzvah; and attended the wedding of a Jewish couple from his ward.[5]

Tammany Hall also served as a social integrator for immigrants by familiarizing them with American society and its political institutions and by helping them become naturalized citizens. One example was the massively expedited, although legally dubious, naturalization process organized by William M. Tweed. Under Tweed special naturalization committees were established to complete the forms, pay the fees and obtain the witnesses necessary for naturalizing immigrants, and judges were compelled to expedite naturalization proceedings.[6]

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2008, 04:50:55 am »



US cartoon 1870s by Thomas Nast
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« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2008, 04:53:34 am »

The Irish

Tammany is forever linked with the rise of the Irish in American politics. Beginning in late 1845, large numbers of Irish Catholics began arriving in New York. Equipped with a knowledge of English, very tight loyalties, a proclivity for politics, and what critics said was a propensity to use violence to control the polls, the Irish quickly dominated Tammany. In exchange for votes, they were provided with money and food. From 1872 onward, Tammany had an Irish "boss." They played an increasingly important role in state politics, supporting one candidate and feuding with another. The greatest success came in 1928 when a Tammany hero, New York Governor Al Smith, won the Democratic presidential nomination.

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2008, 04:54:02 am »

Tweed Machine

By 1854, Tammany's lineage and support from immigrants had made it a powerful force in New York politics. Tammany controlled businesses, politics and sometimes law enforcement. Businesses would give gifts to their workers and, in exchange, tell the workers to vote for the politicians that were supported by Tammany (usually a straight Democratic ticket). In 1854, the Society elected its first New York City mayor. Tammany's "bosses" (called the "Grand Sachem") and their supporters enriched themselves by illegal means. The most infamous boss of all was William M. "Boss" Tweed, whose control over the Tammany Hall machine allowed him to win election to the New York State Senate. His political career ended when he was sent to prison along with his partner Francis I.A. Boole, after his ousting at the hands of a reform movement led by New York's Democratic governor Samuel J. Tilden in 1872. In 1892, a Protestant minister, Charles Henry Parkhurst, made a widely heard denunciation of the Hall, which led to a Grand Jury investigation, the appointment of the Lexow Committee and the election of a reform mayor in 1894.

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2008, 04:55:36 am »



Tammany Ring, by Thomas Nast.
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« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2008, 04:56:47 am »

1890–1950

Despite occasional defeats, Tammany was consistently able to survive and, indeed, prosper; it continued to dominate city and even state politics. Under leaders like John Kelly and Richard Croker, Charles F. Murphy and Timothy Sullivan, it controlled Democratic politics in the city. Tammany opposed William Jennings Bryan in 1896.

In 1901, anti-Tammany forces elected a reformer, Republican Seth Low, to become mayor. From 1902 until his death in 1924, Charles F. Murphy was Tammany's boss. In 1932, the machine suffered a dual setback when Mayor James Walker was forced from office and reform-minded Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. Roosevelt stripped Tammany of federal patronage, which had been expanded under the New Deal—and passed it instead to Ed Flynn, boss of the Bronx. Roosevelt helped Republican Fiorello LaGuardia become mayor on a Fusion ticket, thus removing even more patronage from Tammany's control.

Tammany depended for its power on government contracts, jobs, patronage, corruption, and ultimately the ability of its leaders to swing the popular vote. The last element weakened after 1940 with the decline of relief programs like WPA and CCC that Tammany used to gain and hold supporters. Congressman Christopher "Christy" Sullivan was one of the last "bosses" of Tammany Hall before its collapse.

Tammany never recovered, but it staged a small scale come-back in the early 1950s under the leadership of Carmine DeSapio, who succeeded in engineering the elections of Robert Wagner, Jr. as mayor in 1953 and Averell Harriman as state governor in 1954, while simultaneously blocking his enemies, especially Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. in the 1954 race for state Attorney General.

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2008, 04:58:15 am »

Eleanor Roosevelt organized a counterattack with Herbert Lehman and Thomas Finletter to form the New York Committee for Democratic Voters, a group dedicated to fighting Tammany. In 1961, the group helped remove DeSapio from power. The once mighty Tammany political machine, now deprived of its leadership, quickly faded from political importance, and by the mid-1960s it ceased to exist. The last building to serve as the physical Tammany Hall, on Union Square, is now home to the New York Film Academy. A large decorated flagpole base within Union Square Park is dedicated to sachem Charles F. Murphy.


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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2008, 04:59:45 am »



1893 US cartoon
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« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2008, 05:01:28 am »



"New York's new solar system": Tammany Hall revolves around Boss Croker. US Cartoon 1899 (from Puck).

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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2008, 05:03:41 am »

Leaders
Date   Name   
1797–1804 Aaron Burr
1804–1814 Teunis Wortmann
1814–1817 George Buckmaster
1817–1822 Jacob Barker
1822–1827 Stephen Allen
1827–1828 Mordecai M. Noah
1828–1835 Walter Bowne
1835–1842 Isaac Varian
1842–1848 Robert H. Morris
1848–1850 Isaac V. Fowler
1850–1856 Fernando Wood
1857–1858 Isaac V. Fowler
1858 Fernando Wood
1858–1859 William M. Tweed and Isaac V. Fowler
1859–1867 William M. Tweed and Richard B. Connolly
1867–1871 William M. Tweed
1872 John Kelly and John Morrissey
1872–1886 John Kelly
1886–1902 Richard Croker
1902 Lewis Nixon
1902 Charles F. Murphy, Daniel F. McMahon, and Louis F. Haffen
1902–1924 Charles F. Murphy
1924–1929 George W. Olvany
1929–1934 John F. Curry
1934–1937 James J. Dooling
1937–1942 Christopher D. Sullivan
1942 Charles H. Hussey
1942–1944 Michael J. Kennedy
1944–1947 Edward V. Loughlin
1947–1948 
1948–1949 Hugo E. Rogers
1949–1961 Carmine G. DeSapio
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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2008, 05:06:05 am »

William M. Tweed

William M. "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was a disgraced American politician who was convicted for stealing millions of dollars from New York City taxpayers through political corruption and died in jail. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York.
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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2008, 05:08:04 am »



Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 5th district
In office
March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855
Preceded by George Briggs
Succeeded by Thomas R. Whitney

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Born April 3, 1823(1823-04-03)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died April 12, 1878 (aged 55)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Profession Politician
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Melissa MacQuarrie
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« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2008, 05:08:57 am »

William Marcy Tweed was born on April 3, 1823 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father was a chair-maker of Scottish-Irish descent. Tweed became a volunteer fireman, and made his entrance into politics when he organized the Americus Fire Company No. 6, which along with its fire truck, became known as the "Big Six".

Tweed was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852, the New York City Board of Advisors in 1856, and the New York State Senate in 1867. Financiers Jay Gould and Big Jim Fisk made Tweed a director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed in turn arranged favorable legislation for them. Tweed and Gould became the subjects of political cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1869.

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