How did William Tweed garner votes to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
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Alternate titles: William Magear Tweed, William Marcy Tweed By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Article History Table of ContentsWilliam Magear Tweed See all media Born:April 3, 1823 New York City New York...(Show more)Died:April 12, 1878 (aged 55) New York City New York...(Show more)Political Affiliation:Democratic Party...(Show more) See all related content → Boss Tweed, in full William Magear Tweed, erroneously called William Marcy Tweed, (born April 3, 1823, New York, New York, U.S.—died April 12, 1878, New York), American politician who, with his “Tweed ring” cronies, systematically plundered New York City of sums estimated at between $30 million and $200 million. Tweed was a bookkeeper and a volunteer fireman when elected alderman on his second try in 1851, and the following year he was also elected to a term in Congress. He gradually strengthened his position in Tammany Hall (the executive committee of New York City’s Democratic Party organization), and in 1856 he was elected to a new, bipartisan city board of supervisors, after which he held other important positions in the city government. Meanwhile, he managed to have his cronies named to other key city and county posts, thus establishing what became the Tweed ring. By 1860 he headed Tammany Hall’s general committee and thus controlled the Democratic Party’s nominations to all city positions. In that same year he opened a law office through which he received large fees from various corporations for his “legal services.” He became a state senator in 1868 and also became grand sachem (principal leader) of Tammany Hall that same year. Tweed dominated the Democratic Party in both the city and the state and had his candidates elected mayor of New York City, governor, and speaker of the state assembly. In 1870 Tweed forced the passage of a new city charter creating a board of audit by means of which he and his associates could control the city treasury. The Tweed ring then proceeded to milk the city through such devices as faked leases, padded bills, false vouchers, unnecessary repairs, and overpriced goods and services bought from suppliers controlled by the ring. Vote fraud at elections was rampant. While addressing later corruption in St. Louis in a 1902 article for McClure’s magazine called “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” Lincoln Steffens and Claude H. Wetmore wrote: Thomas Nast: Boss Tweed and the Tweed ringThomas Nast: “The Tammany Tiger Loose”Thomas Nast: “Naturalization Mill”Thomas Nast: Tammany Hall politics Toppling Tweed became the prime goal of a growing reform movement. Exposed at last by The New York Times, the satiric cartoons of Thomas Nast in Harper’s Weekly, and the efforts of a reform lawyer, Samuel J. Tilden, Tweed was tried on charges of forgery and larceny. He was convicted and sentenced to prison (1873) but was released in 1875. Rearrested on a civil charge, he was convicted and imprisoned, but he escaped to Cuba and then to Spain. Again arrested and extradited to the United States, he was confined again to jail in New York City, where he died. Who was William Tweed quizlet?William M. Tweed was an American politician most notable for being the boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic political machine that played a major role in the politics of New York City in the late 1800s.
How did the Tammany Ring come to an end?Tammany Hall's influence waned from 1930 to 1945 when it engaged in a losing battle with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the state's governor (1929–1932) and later U.S. President (1933–1945). In 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced from office when his bribery was exposed. Roosevelt stripped Tammany of federal patronage.
Why was the Tweed Ring particularly notorious?By the mid 1860s, he had risen to the top position in the organization and formed the “Tweed Ring,” which openly bought votes, encouraged judicial corruption, extracted millions from city contracts, and dominated New York City politics.
What was the name of the political machine that Tweed ran in NYC?“Boss” Tweed eventually ran the Tammany Hall political machine, which controlled New York Democratic politics. On this date, former Congressman William M. Tweed of New York escaped from prison in New York City.
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