Gilded Age

Tammany hall version 2

As Tammany helped those in need, it expected votes so that they could stay in power. Staying in power meant control of city jobs as well as city contracts.

Country Courthouse

Building the courthouse was initially estimated to cost around $250,000, but ended up costing $13 million by the time it was finished in 1871.

What cities did to improve things

Cities invested in public works, like transportation, and gas, and later, electricity, and the movement to provide public education continued. Some northern states even passed laws limiting the workdays to 8 hours.

Tammany Hall

Dominated Democratic party politics in the late 19th century, survived until the 20th and is keenly associated with corruption.

Midwest America

In the 1870s, farmers formed the Grange movement to put pressure on state governments to establish fair railroad rates and warehouse charges.

"The King of Frauds"

It involved Credit Mobilier, The construction company that did most of the road building for the Union Pacific Railroad. This two pronged accusation involved, first: overcharging the public for construction costs and siphoning off profits to Credit Mobilier, and second: bribery of Congressmen. This second one was more partisan because only Republican congressmen, including the Speaker of the house, were implicated in it.

Add on to political machines

Machines also provided valuable services to immigrants and other poor people in cities.

Populist Convention

Omaha, NE, 1892 In 1892 they held a convention in Omaha and put forth a remarkably reform minded plan. particularly given that this was put forth in Omaha, which included : Sub-Treasury Plan, Government Ownership of Railroads, Graduated Income Tax and many more

William "Boss" Tweed

Polical Machine Leader of NYC's Tammany Hall. Corrupt in spending tax dollars. Benefit voters for votes and politicians for graft/greed. Ran New York in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and his greatest feat of swindling helps explain how the machine system worked. It revolved around the then-new Country Courthouse that now houses the New York City Department of education.

Reform Legislation in the south

Reform Legislation was less developed in the South, but they were busy rolling back reconstruction and creating laws that limited the civil rights of African Americans, known as Jim Crow laws.

Tammany Hall and their fraud votes

Tammany hall would find a bearded man and he vote, then his beard would be shaved but his mustache was kept, and he voted again, and finally they shaved his mustache off, making it the third time he had voted

Sub-Treasury Plan

Under this plan, farmers would store grain in government warehouses and get low-rate government loans to buy seed and equipment, using the stored grain as collateral. This would allow farmers to bypass the bank who increasingly came to be seen, along with the railroads, as the source of all the farmers' troubles.

Sherman Antitrust Act

an 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States however it was almost impossible to enforce this against the monopolies like U.S. Steel.

political machine

an organization that works to win elections so that it can exercise power. The most famous political machine was New York City's Tammany Hall.

Plunkitt

became famous for writing a book describing the way that New York City's government actually worked.

Gilded Age Republicans and Democrats

favored high tariffs, low government spending, paying off national debt and reducing the amount of paper money-or greenbacks- in circulation. Democrats opposed tariffs and were often linked to New York bankers and Financiers.

Whiskey Ring

which was a group of distillers in St.Louis who decided that they didn't like paying excise taxes on their product, and the 2009 Bling Ring just wanted to dress like Paris Hilton. John McDonald, a Grant administration official, helped distillers reduce their taxes by intentionally undercounting the number of kegs of booze.