William Boss Tweed And Tammany Hall

Tweed became a powerful figure in tammany hall new york city s democratic political machine in the late 1850s.

William boss tweed and tammany hall. At the heart of it all was william magear tweed nicknamed boss tweed the corrupt politician behind the tammany hall party machine from the height of its power in 1868 to his eventual downfall in 1871. William magear tweed april 3 1823 april 12 1878 often erroneously referred to as william marcy tweed see below 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. Tammany hall boss william tweed built the hall into a political force after the culmination of the civil war and effectively established the model of urban bossism which was copied by other bosses throughout the country in the next several decades. Boss tweed in the mid 19th century.

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. William magear boss tweed leader of new york city s corrupt tammany hall political organization during the 1860s and early 1870s is delivered to authorities in new york city after his capture in spain. Tweed leveraged his power as a landowner and corporate board member to extend his influence throughout the city. Born on cherry street on the lower east side of manhattan in 1823 tweed learned his father s trade as a chairmaker.

However tammany hall also served as an engine for graft and political corruption perhaps most infamously under william m. By the 1880s tammany was building local clubs that appealed to social activists from the ethnic middle class. 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.