19th Century Political Machines

During the 19th century our governments were running under an organized group called political machines. These political machines had controlled the activity of a political party in the city. These groups had functioned like a pyramid, they had a political boss at the top who controlled most activity in the city, in the middle of the pyramid was the ward boss who controlled votes, and at the bottom of the pyramid, the local precinct workers and captains had worked streets to gain votes. The political boss had many roles, but whether these roles were beneficial or harmful to the cities was often debated. In the late 19th century, political machines were mostly beneficial, due to helping the people and solving urban problems, but they also harmed cities with the use of graft.

To begin political machines were beneficial because they had helped the poor, and people in need. They would often support the people in the city and help them until they could get back on their feet and support themselves. In document 7 George Plunkitt, once a politician in New York, and a member of the Tammany Hall machine in New York City, describes how he used his power as a political
An example of political machines doing good and bad would be when they had helped out the people living in the city, and then expected to get votes in return for doing a favor. Yes, in many ways the political machines had abused the power they had, but they also did use it to benefit the city and the people living in the city. These political machines had often helped cities grow, and were very organized but sometimes they were involved with bribes, and fraud. Overall political machines benefitted the city because of their involvement and help with the people and urban problems, but they also were bad because they had used political graft and often times participated in