Government Corruption
• A string of ineffective Presidents and a bunch of
corrupt office holders led to a pretty sad state of gov.
• Spoils System – Started with Andrew Jackson.
Appoint you friends to easy government jobs whether
they were qualified or not.
• U.S. Grant – The most corrupt administration of all
the Presidents.
1. His “buddies” charged the U.S. an extra $23 million
to build the Transcontinental Railroad.
2. Whiskey Ring – Millions of tax dollars went into the
pockets of people instead of the government.
• James Garfield – While putting together his cabinet,
one of the people not appointed was Rosco Conkling.
This irritated many people. One of them was Charles
Guiteau who shot Garfield 4 months later.
• Chester A. Arthur – Garfield’s Vice President. He
decided to put an end to the Spoils System.
• Pendleton Civil Service Act
1. To get a government job you had to take a test and
pass it.
2. Promotions were based on merit not the political
connections you had.
Garfield Video
Tammany Hall
• The worst of all the political
machines.
• Run by William Macy “Boss”
Tweed. He stole millions of
dollars from N.Y. City.
• Eventually a book keeper told
the N.Y. Times what Tweed
was doing.
• Investigations were started.
• Thomas Nast looked into the
situation. He would draw
political cartoons exposing
Tweed’s corruption.