Tammany Hall
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Photo of a NYC tenement apartment by Lewis Hines
Conditions for
people in NYC
1911
• Very poor
• No gov’t assistance in any way
(no money if you become
unemployed, no help if you get
hurt on the job, no money
retirement etc.)
• Can’t afford doctors, can’t pay
hospitals
• Apartments small, cramped
and stinky
• Anti-immigrant / anti-poor
attitudes by other New Yorkers
• In general, a poor, lost and
alone feeling
This is a Lewis Hines photo of a “Five Cent Bed”. People would pay 5 cents for a few
square feet of space to sleep in. They slept on cots, under cots, on boards over the sink
and on the floor. The more people you could cram in, the more money the owner made.
Tammany Hall
• The Democratic Party in New York City
ran a “political machine” that controlled
the city for 50 years.
• They controlled all the elections, the fire
department, the police department and
all the cities services.
• The goal of this was to get “sugar” =
MONEY
Errand
Boys
Errand Boys and
the Block Captain
had to make sure
all these people
were loyal to the
Democratic Party.
• Every block in the city had a few “errand boys” low level
Democratic Party workers who really knew the neighborhood
and made sure every voter stayed happy and loyal.
• They were paid to do small jobs for the Democratic Party.
Block Captain
• He was the one man in charge of a whole block
or neighborhood.
• He had a dozen or so errand boys working for
him.
• He had worked his way up from being an
errand boy by proving his loyalty to the
Democratic Party and making sure everyone in
his neighborhood voted for the Democratic
Candidate in every election
Ward
Leaders
• He was in charge of as many as 30-40 blocks and
block captains and was a very powerful man.
• He had to make sure the Democratic Party Candidate
always won. He handed out jobs in the police and fire
department.
• He controlled who got the “sugar” in his ward.
District Leaders
• There were only a few District Leaders but they
were even more powerful then the Ward
Leaders.
• They controlled who could operate legal and
illegal business’, who went to jail if caught by
the police etc, who could run for political offices,
etc.
• Was the single most powerful man in New
York City. He was the leader of the Democratic
Party and everything he wanted happened.
• He also benefited the most from the “sugar”.
The Boss
Boss Tweed was the
most powerful
Tammany Hall leader
Thomas Nast was a popular cartoonist in NY City, he didn’t like Tammany Hall or
Boss Tweed. In this cartoon, what does Nast accuse Boss Tweed of doing?
How to get a job
in Tammany
Hall.
• Most men started out as errand boys. If they did a
good job, made powerful friends with the Ward Leader
they might make it to Block Captain.
• The way you moved up was to keep your people loyal
to the Democratic Party and create “sugar” to give to
the people below you (keeps them loyal) and to the
people above you (keeps them happy)
This is all Extremely illegal.
How come the cops didn’t
break this up?
• There were no tests or applications to become a police officer,
to get a police job you bribed the Ward Leader.
• To become a regular street cop cost $300.
• To become a Police Captain in a nice section of the city cost
$15,000.
• Police made money by “graft” = taking money from illegal
business to let them operate. Ex. The owner of an illegal drug
den would pay the police to let him run his business without the
police arresting him.
• Many cops would borrow money to pay the bribe to get the job
then repay the loan with graft.
Elections
• The Tammany Hall political machine
only had power if the Democratic
Party won elections. So it was VERY
important to make sure everyone
voted for the Democratic Party.
• In one election where the vote from
one block was 388 Democrat vs. 4
Republican, the Ward Boss said “That
is one more Republican vote than I
expected but I’ll find that feller.”
• By 3PM on election day the Ward
Leaders knew the names of everyone
who had not yet voted and sent errand
boys to knock on their doors to remind
them.
• Most of the vote counters and
elections officials owed their jobs to
Tammany Hall Democrats so they
weren’t likely to be fair.
How did Tammany Hall stay
so popular?
• They were loyal to the people that voted for
them.
• If a good Democratic voting family lost
everything in a fire the local errand boy would
tell the Block Captain. He would show up in
minutes with money for a new apartment,
clothes and food. If someone had died, they
would pay for the funeral. When a couple got
married they were the first ones at the door
with a wedding gift. They would get coal for
the stoves during blizzards, give presents to the
poor at Christmas and take hundreds on
picnics outside of the city.
• All you had to do in return was vote Democrat
in the next election. They were very popular
with the poor immigrants living in the city.
Who would make sure this family got a place to live?
Who would make sure this mother and child had food?