Political Bosses in America Essay

Within unlimited people’s demands and limited resource, they couldn't satisfy everyone’s demands. Democracy did not solve the problem in this situation which gave a chance to the bosses who did not shrink from the corrupt deals but increase their power bases. The people and institutions the bosses controlled were called political machine. One of the most famous boss was William Tweed who had control the entire New York for almost twelve years. Boss Tweed was elected to the United States House of Representative in 1852, but it didn't last long. Tweed tempted to control the Democratic dominated New York city government by using the poor and immigrants. At the late 19th century, there were lots of African who couldn't find a job and tried to find a job in New York city. Boss Tweed would guarantee to get them a jot as long as they vote for the specific person. Also Tweed would gave generously to the poor not only the Africans or immigrants and authorized some life supplies for them. Therefore, the poor and immigrants would obey Tweed and eventually Tweed took control of the New York city government after the election of

The immigration was considered not to be easy to assimilate, and therefore a bigger problem than before. Nativist developed, as immigrants increased the urbanization problems and formed ethnic ghettos throughout the city while competing for jobs and working at lower wages than native-born citizens. This immigration brought on an increased fight for labor power, urban machines for maximizing the immigrants' large collective power, another form of organization, and plans for urban reform especially the 'Wisconsin idea", and the city-manager plan.

An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprise, and industrial worker and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic

There were also laws that were discriminatory and riots because the white people didn’t really get along with the immigrants.

For some they returned having never reached this goal, for others they ended up staying in America, but for many of these immigrants they did reach their goal and after doing so, returned home. These immigrants were temporary migrants that had caught “America fever”. (p. 16) Temporary migration had been going on before this time, but it wasn’t until the invention of the steam engine that migrant workers began to voyage across the seas. Many of these poor European’s that migrated to the United States did so to make money to go back home and buy land. Not all of them had this goal, some saved money to start-up or buy a business. Whether they were going back to buy land or expand land they already had, or they were going to use the money to start a business these remigrants all had one thing in common. Wyman writes of the Hungarian emigrant’s experiences; “they would soon return with the money made overseas to make a better life for themselves in the environment they were attached to, the place where they wanted to live.”(p. 49). Because many of these European immigrants only stayed in America a short time many native-born Americans began to have hostilities toward these new immigrants in terms of the American Labor Movement, assimilation politics and nativist’s movements.

As a larger number of immigrants began to move to the United States from eastern and southern Europe, cities began to increase. Due to these patterns of global migration, between 1870 and 1900, cities increased by at least eleven million people from these immigrants (p.507). While the idea of a growing city benefits big businesses in hiring low-waged workers, this opportunity for work in large industries opened the flood-gates for multiple waves of immigrants. The first wave, those known as the skilled workers “…criticized the newcomers. One Irish worker complained, ‘There should be a law…to keep all the Italians from comin’ in and takin’ the bread out of the mouth of honest people’” (American

With the growth of industry in the United States, the population of cities began to grow substantially (Tovanche Lecture). They started providing job opportunities in factories, offices, and other places as well. The cities became the main center of wealth and also poverty. A huge class of the impoverished lived in slums. Some even lived underground in the sewers, and a huge percentage of the poor came from newly arrived immigrants who were coming to America in large numbers from poor

Political bosses, heads of the political machine, focused on the vast influx of immigrants coming to the United States in the 19th century and targeted not only them but also poor, working-class citizens. Political bosses ensured support was by offering goods and services, including business contracts and licences within the city’s growing areas, otherwise known as bribery. Because the growing areas of cities mostly consisted of immigrants and the poor, the trade of a vote in exchange to a good or a service was appealing to constituents and even more so to political bosses. Machines offered jobs for immigrants, generating the possibility of a citizen’s personal upward mobility. However, these services were not always equal, and machines were willing to act with hostility when their wishes were not met. While machines aided in the assimilation of immigrants into the

The rapid growth of American cities in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s created huge problems for the government that ran the cities as in most cases in was very poorly structured and could not really give the people what they needed. It is because of the inability of city government to provide these things to the people that there was a rise in political machines. These political machines gained support from the population by providing houses for people who needed them and by also offering people jobs that they desperately needed. This gave the political machines a lot of power and support from there loyal followers.

The manufacturing jobs promised by large corporations brought many people to the cities and effected widespread immigration and urbanization during the Gilded Age. Living conditions were harsh and the familiarity of small towns disappeared in the crowds of the cities. Technological advances in architecture allowed for taller buildings and higher concentrations of people. Upper and middle class families escaped to suburbs as an influx of immigrants and lower class workers flocked to the cities to find employment. The flood of “new immigrants” from southern and eastern Europe resulted in the creation of many anti-immigration groups (Digital History).

By the twentieth century, the rise of big business and the large migration of Americans from the countryside to the cities caused a shift in political awareness, as elected officials saw the need to address the growing economic and social problems that developed along with the urban boom. Progressives believed that the government needed to take a strong, proactive role in the economy, regulating big business, immigration, and urban

The 19th century formed an era of industrialization and political change in the United States. New possibilities formed and new ideas inhibited the once agrarian country. New people came to America too as an effect of immigration. Immigrants from all over Europe and East and South Asia knew of the new opportunities available. Once they came to the United States, these people started congregating in cities. Here, they were close to the jobs and resources they needed, not to mention that it was a more efficient use of space compared to expanding outward. In the country, the demand for labor was increasing, and luckily there was a complementary increase in supply of it. The influx of immigrants was an influx of new ideas--ones that differed from pre-existing views in the United States. Good ideas came from good people, and their impressions and motivations were powerful, casting an image of wealth and awe-inspiring personality.

The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of

Since the 19th Century, America has become known as the nation of immigrants. During that time the United States experienced the biggest wave of immigration of any place or time in the history of the world. It was also during that same time that America felt the greatest growth in production and standard of living than any other point in history (Divine, 1957). For many, the link between these two exceptional points in history was no coincidence.

By discussing some of the advantages and disadvantages of administration and politics dichotomy, an opinion of whether it is useful or impossible will be made. Wilson’s politics administration dichotomy refers to the idea that administrative decisions need to be made without political influence. One argument to this is that politics has transformed, let’s say, the role of a city manager from a neutral expert to a problem solver and dichotomy should be replaced with an expanded base of professional values for them.