Tammany Hall Myth

Everybody is talkin' these days about Tammany men growin' rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin' the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft." With this sentence in the first chapter Plunkitt sets the tone for his short treatise on New York City politics while Tammany Hall ran the show. George Washington Plunkitt was a senator in New York during the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century. He was very successful in politics, and at one time he held four offices at once and collected salaries from three of them. G. W. Plunkitt held any one (or more offices) in Tammany Hall for over forty years. He was a shady politician who took care of his constituents and his

"Everybody is talking' these days about Tammany men growin' richer on graft, but nobody thinks of drawing' the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There's all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I've made a big fortune out fo the game, and I'm gettin' richer every day, but I've not gone in for dishonest graft--blackmailin' gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc.--and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics." (taken from the American Pageant)

Those who were very wealthy probably would not have been drastically affected by the famine whereas those who migrated the most. However, the poorer element from counties such as Clare, Kerry, and Mayo had weak representation in the area of migration after 1846 (114).

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

During the 1870s and 1880s, many Irish occupied the slums of East Boston, including new immigrants. The Irish began to move up the social ladder and a few were entering the professions. However, the majority of Irish immigrants were still living in poverty in urban slums. Despite this, the Irish were able to elect their candidates and obtain political power in cities with large populations of Irish such as Boston. In addition, successful Irishmen became the ward bosses of the cities and mediated between the political parties and new Irish immigrants.

While the Irish were poor and somewhat unskilled, many stayed in the port city where they came off the boat, like New York City or Boston, and adopted the lowest jobs offered in the dingy city for small wages. As they were in the crowd of urban American life, many looked down up them for being both Catholic and foreign, leaving the Irish to fend for themselves and make havens for themselves in places like Tammany Hall. Most escaped the world of farming for a lowly factory job for even cheaper than normal, which depressed wages in the area, and in turn caused the native population to dislike them even more. However, the Germans were often more skilled than the Irish, and often used a trade that they practiced back home to make money outside of factories. As well as being more skilled, they came with more money, as the German states fared better during this time than the land of famine under British rule, which allowed them to move westward and purchase their own land to farms, out of the way of other people, usually in Wisconsin.

The Irish people would have freight, terror, death and eventually peace with these changes. The potato famine started with blight being discovered by European farmers. The Irish government started to export potatoes and grains to continental Europe to help the Europeans avoid a famine (Smith, 2011). By the end of August of 1845, Ireland was freighted to find out that blight had found its way to their produce (Smith, 2011). The blight in Ireland set off a chain of events that led to the Irish people dying in more ways to get out of Ireland. The government started trying to feed their people by importing corn and grains for food (Smith, 2011). This was not enough to help the young, old and sick. Many of theIrish people were led to complete financial ruin. By the end of 1851 more than a million Irish had died due to hunger and disease exacerbated by malnutrition(Smith, 2011).The only answer for many Irish families was to take a risk and get on a coffin boat and flee to another country. North America was a safe haven for many Irish people. They dreamed of the life they would live in the U.S.A. Nearly 1 million people arrived in many cities which include New York, and Boston (Smith, 2011). When the Irish people arrived, it was a sad reality they did not think they would face. The conditions were despicable. Many families were moved into small rooms with no sanitation, ventilation, day light or electricity (Smith, 2011). The families were charged about $1.50 per week to live in extreme poverty (Smith, 2011). This led to unsanitary conditions for the communities. Diseases were able to thrive in those conditions and one of the more common disease was cholera . The Irish people usually stayed in close proximity to each other and would make a small Irish community. The Irish community strived to make money. They were only hired for unskilled jobs

Immigrants came to America seeking opportunity, land, and freedom. In addition, immigrants also came to escape from things in their homelands such as oppression, high taxes, and the Potato Famine. These were all known as push and pull factors. This explained why you should leave your country and come to America(doc 2). The Potato Famine was a rough era in Ireland. Due to a blight, all of the potatoes rotted right before being ready to be

Political Machines were completely unregulated. Tammany Hall is one of the biggest of these. Tammany Hall used its resources to keep Democrats in power. Specifically those who the organization was “in” with. William “Boss” Tweed ruled Tammany Hall therefore much of the local political sphere. For example: An estimated

In cities such as Boston and New York, Irish immigrants were packed into slums and many still were dying as a result of hunger and disease. The Irish were discriminated against, mainly for being Catholics in an almost exclusively Protestant society. Many factories and employers posted signs on their doors, "workers wanted, no Irish need apply" (Considine 5). With the low wages that the Irish were earning (although much higher than they would receive in Ireland), one would think that the money would all be spent on feeding and housing the worker and their family, but this was not the case. "Through backbreaking sacrifice, they were able to send home a few shillings or pounds at a time until a sister, a brother, a mother, father, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend had enough money to buy the ship ticket" (Considine 46). This devotion of the Irish to their family and their fellow countrymen is a remarkable aspect of their culture.

William L. Riordon is the author who wrote the book “Plunkitt of Tammany Hall”. Williams L. Riordon author’s background comes from him being a journalist who collected George Washington Plunkitt plain talks, newspaper and among other things to be able to put together the “Plunkitt Tammany Hall” book. The book offers Plunkitt importance as a political figure in New York City and several accomplishments he had made during his time. William L. Riordon included a list of various office passions he held while being part of Tammany Hall. Riordon clearly admire the way George Washington Plunkitt would talk and the philosophy that he had with the grafts. William L. Riordon believed he was destine to share the amazing story of a well respected

Is it possible for the protectors to become the abusers? In late 19th century New York City this was a very true reality, mostly thanks to the political machine that was Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a New York City political organization that began in the late 18th century. It controlled the Democratic Party’s nominations at it was often named the party’s “political machine.” Boss Tweed, was a New York politician who became Tammany’s leader in the late 1860’s. Because he was the party’s boss, he was able to appoint high ranking government official which gave him access to an enormous amount of public money which was used often for personal gain. One of Tammany Hall’s most known critic was Thomas Nast, who starred Tweed and his followers

In the mid-1920s, there was an even bigger increase in Irish immigrants to Chicago. Due to this increase in population, they moved up financially than other Europeans ethnicities. Instead of residing in lower-class areas, they began to disperse outwards. The areas where the Irish decided to move to were middle-class and upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Not many other ethnicities lived in these areas because they were not as financially secure as the Irish had become due to all the work they had received over the years. The neighborhoods the Irish lived in now were mainly in the Near North Side. Areas like, Lincoln Park, Lake View, and Uptown Areas (Cutler, 1973, 49-54).

Even though Tammany Hall was a political machine that helped out with incoming immigrants by finding them jobs and a place to live; however, they stole twenty to thirty million dollars from the city, they didn't help with the living conditions, the immigrants were treated poorly, there was no stop to child labor, and they never helped the community (Compound-Complex).

I was born 1835, in Dublin, Ireland; my family and I were a happy family with no care in the world until what is known as “The Great Famine” destroyed Ireland and its citizens. Ireland began to take a turn for the worse in 1845 when the Irish population became extremely sick of disease and started starving to death. Our potatoes polluted with bacteria ruining our successful crops and slowly, the citizens of Ireland began to flee. Our friends, family, and neighbors left to the United States, my parent’s friends even tried to convince us to go along, but my father’s ignorance got the best of him. My parents constantly bickered about moving to the United States; my mother wanted to flee and save our family however my father believed that Ireland