Unit 2 Lesson 5 Politics of Gilded Age - Mr.Nick...

WARM UP

① You have 5 minutes to work with your group on the urbanization jigsaw

② You need to elect a teacher and clean up any mistakes on your poster

URBANIZATION JIGSAW

Politics of the Gilded Age

The Politics of the Gilded Age I.  Dominated by limited government,

laissez-faire economics, & Social Darwinism

II.  The time period had political corruption & ineffectiveness

A.  Government is useless/does nothing

B.  Government takes bribes & doesn’t work for the people

Political Machines I.  During the Gilded Age

many cities were run by a political machines

II.  Political machines

offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for votes

III. Political machines controlled entire cities and made large profits

TheBirthofPoliticalMachines

I.  Problem:citieshavegrowntoofastandtheirmunicipalgovernmentscan’tkeepupwiththeneedsofthepeople.A.  Transit,sanitation,publichousing,employment,

crime

II.  Solution:Politicalmachineswillstepintoprovideservicestothepeople…A.  Politicalmachinesdemandvotesandmoneyin

exchangeforassistance

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

POLITICSINTHEGILDEDAGE

I.  Ascitiesgrewinthelate19thcentury,sodidpoliticalmachines

II.  Politicalmachinessoughttocontrolentirecities.

III. TheheadofthePoliticalmachinewasknownasthe“Boss”

ROLEOFTHEPOLITICALBOSSI.   The“Boss”(typicallythemayor)

A.   ControlledjobsB.   BusinesslicensesC.   Influencedthecourtsystem

II.   PoliEcalmachineshelpedimmigrantswith:A.   NaturalizaEonB.   JobsC.   Housing

III.  ThesepoliEcalmachinesprovidedtheseservicesinexchangeforvotes

BossTweedranNYC

Political Machines

Help for immigrants

VOTES

POWER

Political Corruption I.   Political machines became corrupt

and focused on winning elections not helping the people

II.   Machines used their power to help themselves and steal tax dollars from the government

III.  Led to an increase in patronage and the spoil system

Patronage & Spoils System

I.  Both patronage & the spoils system give government jobs away in exchange for votes & money

II.  Patronage allows unqualified people to take jobs they shouldn’t have

A.  People dislike government workers who are not qualified

III. Often times patronage led workers to accept bribes and use other corrupt actions to stay in power

Municipal Graft and Scandal

I.   Some political bosses used corrupt tactics to win elections:

A.   Practiced election fraud by using fake names, dead people voting and voting multiple times to ensure victory

II.   Other political machines took advantage of the use of graft:

A.   Using political power for personal gain (money) B.   Workers would charge governments extra for public projects

then give the extra money back to the politicians C.   These payments were known as “kickbacks” and allowed

politicians to get rich

PoliticalCorruptionI.  Politicalcorruptionwasa

widespreadproblemintheUSduringtheGildedAge

II.  Governmentswereineffectiveandlostmillionsduetograftandkickbacks

III. Voterfraudwasaseriousproblemàelectionsseemedriggedandunfair

Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall

THETWEEDRINGSCANDALI.   William M. Tweed, known as

Boss Tweed, became head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s powerful Democratic political machines

II.   Between 1869-1871, Tweed led the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city

III.  Tweed’s ring stole between 40 and 200 million

IV.  Most powerful and corrupt political machine in the United States.

Boss Tweed

CIVILSERVICEREPLACESPATRONAGE

I.   Nationally, some politicians pushed for reform in the hiring system

II.   Patronage (giving jobs and favors to those who helped a candidate get elected) led to unqualified government workers

III.  Reformers pushed for an adoption of a merit system or hiring the most qualified people for jobs

IV.   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

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?

SHAME OF CITIES