Boss Tweed S Tammany Hall
By 1872 tammany had an irish catholic boss and in 1928 a tammany hero new york governor al smith won the democratic presidential nomination.
Boss tweed s tammany hall. Tammany hall also called tammany the executive committee of the democratic party in new york city historically exercising political control through the typical boss ist blend of charity and patronage. The foot soldiers of tammany hall were the hundreds of thousands of irish immigrants who streamed. Boss tweed was perhaps tammany hall s most corrupt and most dominant boss. Tweed became a powerful figure in tammany hall new york city s democratic political machine in the late 1850s.
William magear tweed often erroneously referred to as william marcy tweed and widely known as boss tweed was an american politician most notable for being the boss of tammany hall the democratic party political machine that played a major role in the politics of the world 19th century new york city and state. Boss tweed in 1868 tweed became grand sachem leader of tammany hall and was also elected to the new york state senate and in 1870 he and his cronies took control of the city treasury when they passed a new city charter that named them as the board of audit. By far the most notorious figure to be associated with tammany hall was william marcy tweed whose political power made him known as boss tweed. The name was derived from a pre revolutionary association named after tammanend a wise and benevolent delaware indian chief.
The tammany hall ward boss or ward heeler wards were the city s smallest political units from 1786 to 1938 served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. At the height of his influence tweed was the third largest landowner in new york city a director of the erie railroad a director of the tenth national bank a. Tweed also essentially created tammany hall the greatest political machine in american history. Born on cherry street on the lower east side of manhattan in 1823 tweed learned his father s trade as a chairmaker.