Tweed Ring Scandal Essay

A defining moment in American history, the Watergate scandal, dramatically transformed the way Americans view politicians and government. In the eyes of most Americans, trust, honor and integrity, vanished from the political landscape.

He had little knowledge of politics, and depended on his fellow politicians. These men, in turn, involved in scandals to embezzle money from the government. One was the Great Mobilier scandal; it dealt with the Union Pacific Railroad. The Construction Company hired themselves at inflated prices to build railroad lines, and distributed shares of stock to congressmen. A scandal during Grant’s second term, was the Whisky Ring. This scandal was uncovered in St. Louis, and consisted of selling whiskey without the excise tax. In return it defrauded the government out of millions of dollars. Belknap was selling goods and trading with the Indians for lower prices.

Also, the corrupt politicians in New York was a reality. Boss Tweed was running a political machine, and the public were the ones getting the raw deal. In a famous series of newspaper interviews George Plunkett explains the difference between "honest graft" and "dishonest graft."

Their way in was through Abel Corbin, President Grants brother-in-law. For a payment of 1.5 million dollars, Corbin agreed to help with the scheme. They wanted to take over the United States treasury and control everything. Gould’s idea was that if the treasury didn’t sell any gold the price could go from $130 to $150 and this would help the economy. President Grant, by this time, was part of the scheme. He was not fully aware of everything going on but he knew enough. Grant had realized that Gould made a bribe attempt and was outraged by it. This led Gould to realize that his plan may have been falling apart. He figured the only way out before the collapse of the market was to betray his partner. So he did what he felt he could do to save himself. Soon after this the price collapsed into the $130’s and continued to mumble. More and more men were becoming poor at the gold exchange.

The Gilded Age was a time a of great prosperity but also great corruption. Many advances in technology and industry took place during the time period. The transcontinental railroad was built, the steel industry was expanded, and oil took off. These developments allowed for the US to experience an industrial revolution, but not all was well. Most of the wealth generated during this time concentrated itself into the hands a of a select few who were able to weasel their way to the top of their industry. One example is John D. Rockefeller, who with wealth adjusted for inflation, amassed a fortune of around $700 billion. The way the these men obtained their wealth was an issue for many during the

Lucas, K., & Fyke, J. P. (2014). Euphemisms and ethics: A language-centered analysis of Penn State's Sexual Abuse Scandal. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(4), 551-569. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1777-0

Tammany Hall took money from taxpayers to maintain their political machine and increase their personal fortune. This is a clear example of failure within what seemed to be a fair political system. Boss Tweed used a graft

Often considered as the most unscrupulous of the robber barons, Jay Gould was involved with Tammany Hall and William “Boss” Tweed from the initial stages of his business career. Shortly after hurting his reputation in a gold speculation that induced the Black Friday panic 1in 1869, he went on to gain control of western railroads such as the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. By 1882, Gould had a firm grip on 15% of the United States’ total trackage. Although many of his contemporaries feared him because of his ability to influence the market, he was recognized by other magnates as a rather skilled businessman. From his rather corrupt business practices, Jay Gould built up and ultimately established his reputation in the 19th century through his involvement with the Erie railway, the panic of Black Friday, and Tammany Hall which reassured his position as one of the leading robber barons during the Industrial Revolution.

In the history of the United States there were a vast amount of political leaders and big businesses that contributed to the success of cities in our country.Greed and the need for power can consume someone and make them feel like they are unstoppable,but little do people know the judgement day is right around the corner.William "Boss" Tweed is a prime example of what the need for power and greed will do to a person.William Tweed played a huge role in the success of New York City through smart politics,corruption,which ultimately led to his conviction. William Tweed was a member of the United States House of Representatives in New York.Tweed,born on April 3,1823,a man of big stature,stood six feet tall,weighing in at 300 pounds with a cheerful personality.Tweed got the nickname Boss because he was the the leader of Tammany Hall.

The Black Friday scandal also has another name it goes by people sometimes call it " Deadly Friday. " Two men tried to control the gold market of New York's gold exchange, these men were James Fisk and Jay Gould.The Black Friday scandal had another name as well it also went by the name of " Fisk-Gould Scandal. " The U.S. Government during the civil war gave out greenback which were backed out by nothing but credit. After the civil war most people believed that they could buy back the greenbacks with gold. Fisk and Gould tried to profit from this by cornering the gold market. They hired Abel Corbin Ulysses S. Grant's brother-in-law, and they hired him to get closer to Ulysses S. Grant to argue against him when the government discussed

During the history of New York, there is the history of Tammany Hall founded in 1789 in opposition to the Federalist Party. The main goal of this organization was to fight again the Federalist Party as Antifederalist. The Federalist Party’s main goal was to ratify the constitution and divide the power between the national government and the state government, so, the Tammany Hall was created to fight against the goal of the Federalist Party. Also, from 1890s to 1934, Tammany Hall became famous due charges of corruption against the leader William M. Boss Tweed, better known as “Boss”. Although this organization was guilty of some corruption cases, it succeeded because they helped poor people and because it never lost touch with its people, therefore,

At this point, Tweed won every battle that came his way. In 1866, as it would later be discovered, he, Hall, Richard Connolly, and Peter Barr Sweeney started the “Tweed Ring”, which ultimately damned him. Over the next five years, the foursome would make between $40 and $100 million dollars off the city they claimed to love and protect (bosstweedproject). The Tweed Ring seized control of the city treasure in 1870, funneling funds into their own private bank account so exceedingly that action had to be taken.

Tweed, or “Boss” Tweed, was to start a volunteer fireman in New York City and from then on his rise to power can only be described as meteoric. From this position he took it upon himself to be elected as the city alderman, and from this position ran for the US House of Representatives and won. These positions turned out to be benign and boring, he was only a Representative for one term, but while in these jobs he cultivated a relationship with Tammany Hall and when his term was up he had a prime position waiting for him. He was to become the sole proprietor of job, political jobs, in Tammany Hall. Not one to waste an opportunity William Tweed installed his own men into key positions of power and managed to control much of the New York City bureaucracy with his eponymous “Tweed Ring”. This ring of corruption lasted more than ten years as “Boss” Tweed and his cronies embezzled over 30 million dollars from New York City. This ring of fraud was ultimately left up for so long because it was so efficient and in another way, genius. Tweed managed to maintain his power by installing only his men into positions of political power, promising them not only influence but money. But with this new wealth comes the guarantee of loyalty to your political boss. In most men's eyes, this is a relatively small price to pay for the thousands of dollars to be made from the jobs he would give. But his regime was to end, in 1869, for a myriad of factors some including the political

Another event that led to the Rampart scandal was in November 6, 1997 when $722,000 was stolen from a Bank of America in Los Angeles. Later the bank manager confessed that her boyfriend, a LAPD officer, played a major role and planned the robbery. The officer was taken to prison for 14 years.

Watergate is the popular name for the political scandal and constitutional crisis that began with the arrest of five burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office in Washington D.C. on the night of June 17, 1972. It ended with the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon. The burglars and two co-potters-G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt were indicated on charges of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping. Four monthes later, they were convicted and sentenced to prison terms by District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who was convicted that pertinent details had not been unveiled during the trial and proffered leniency in exchange for further information. As it