George Washington Plunkitt especially. Plunkitt and his constituents believed in

political patronage and personalized democracy. The men of Tammany Hall did

things for New York City that republicans would not do. Plunkitt described these

acts as honest graft. “Ain’t it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a

profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft.”

(Riordon, 49) Others, did not see the honesty in this corruption and thievery.

However, it can be easily shown how this way of politics was beneficial to many

people of New York City. There are many examples of how urban machine

politics met unmet needs, and saved the city from chaos.

Urban machine politics speaks to specialization and centralization. The

central organization of course is Tammany Hall. “To the victor goes the spoils.”

This relates to the Spoil System which was everywhere after the civil war.

Which ever political party that won national elections, held the power. The

republicans held onto this balance of power through the end of the 19th century.

Irish democrat John Kelly entered the political arena and Tam

over 42 volumes of senate reports. There were two main recommendations.

The era of Progressive Reform was from 1890-1920. There was a burst

opportunity for social mobility. Jobs were often promised in the wards, in return

Men were not turned down if they didn’t have a high education. Education was

the Spoils System of patronage and loyalty and replacing it with civil service

Some topics in this essay:
Tammany Hall, Fifteenth District, York City, Quota Act, Hall NYC, NYC Plunkitt, Dillingham Commission, Reformers Yankee, George Plunkitt, John Kelly, tammany hall, civil service, urban machine, urban machine politics, progressive reformers, service exams, human nature, literacy tests, plunkitt tammany, ward bosses, plunkitt tammany hall, civil service exams, machine politics, plunkitt ward bosses, ward bosses helped,