Tammany Hall and the Irish
Tammany Hall was one of the largest and most influential political machines of the Gilded Age. Based in New York City, Tammany Hall controlled the Democratic party in both city and state elections. Though the machine is mostly remembered for being a leading part of the boss system, it was initially formed for different intentions.
The Tammany Society initially formed as a "society for pure Americans" in 1789 and became a vast network spreading across the Northeast. Its name comes from "Tamanend", a Native American leader. The society incorporated many Native American customs and words.
However, the society grew to be increasingly more political, first noticed by Aaron Burr. He attempted to use Tammany Hall to counteract Alexander Hamilton's influence in the Society of the Cincinnati. From this, it became a hallmark of the Democratic-Republican party and maintained influence for many years. By the Gilded Age, its power had reached its highest point.
Having grown to be a part of the boss system, the leaders of Tammany Hall frequently did favors for the lower classes in order to gain votes. Initially, Tammany Hall wouldn't allow membership for immigrants, including the Irish. In 1817, the Irish protested and invaded several offices, eventually gaining membership. Tammany Hall officials soon began to realize the potential influence and power that could be gained from accepting the Irish immigrants.
This influence only grew with the Irish potato famine. More than 130,000 Irish immigrants lived in New York City by 1850. These immigrants were extremely poor. Additionally, they were not given the same rights as many other European immigrants because most of them were Catholic. They were also targeted by the temperance and eventual prohibition movements, which tried to limit the consumption of alcohol. Since the Irish stereotypically were heavy consumers of alcohol, they were subordinated to other European immigrants and especially Americans, even those of the labor class.
Because of this, the Irish were eager to support anyone who would treat them better. The leaders of Tammany Hall soon realized this. They helped Irish immigrants find jobs and housing. In helping the Irish in this way, the bosses of Tammany Hall acquired a tremendous voting force. By 1855, 34% of the voting force was Irish. Without this massive Irish population, Tammany Hall wouldn't have reached the level of power we associate with it today.
Tammany Hall also helped the Irish (along with other immigrant groups) adapt to social customs of the United States. It did this both informally and formally. Informally, it helped familiarize immigrants to the language and political system of New York. Formally, many different processes were enacted to help naturalize and familiarize these immigrants. The most famous of these was the Naturalization Process under the Tweed Regime which ultimately helped many gain citizenship.
Tammany Hall was one of the first, if not the first, organization that recognized the value of the Irish. Without this political machine, many Irish would have had difficulty surviving in the intense labor climate of the Gilded Age. Many other organizations frowned upon the Irish for their Catholic background, so the acceptance of Tammany Hall meant a lot to these immigrants. Despite the ulterior motives for Tammany Hall's support of the Irish, to these immigrants, being recognized by an established and powerful organization helped cement their belief in the American dream.
Teagan, I really like your post because it is very organized, insightful, and interesting. I like how you use a lot of specific evidence, which makes your claim very strong and convincing. However, I disagree with your claim that Tammany hall helped the Irish and instead agree more with your point that the leaders had "ulterior motives". Using the source http://www.history.com/topics/tammany-hall, I learned that one of the main bosses of the Tammany Hall boss system was William M. Tweed. Although as a boss he did help the Irish immigrants find jobs and places to live, in return he asked for their complete loyalty and they lost their political rights. Although the boss system may have temporarily given them what they needed, the living and working conditions were still atrocious so by keeping them dependent, it stifled progress in these areas. According to the source, progressive reformers, that truly supported the poor immigrants needs, had to combat the Tammany Hall system. Furthermore, the end result of the boss system was that the boss received a very large amount of money that came from the tax payers through a corrupt deal. Tammany Hall was very similar to all the other boss machine systems: it took power away from the people and put it in the hands of the rich.
ReplyDeleteOwen, thanks for your insightful comment. I appreciate your perspective and argument. The goal of my post was not to applaud the boss system nor was it to assert that Irish people only benefitted from it. I completely agree that oftentimes, the Irish lost rights--especially politically. I agree that many of the benefits that the Irish people received were in the short term, however, I maintain the idea that ultimately, there was some social benefit to the Irish as a whole from the boss system. Individually, rights were taken away. However, because the Irish immigrants were recognized as a group by Tammany Hall, this group came to be recognized by many others. Whereas previously, the Irish were practically shunned for their Catholicism, they did as a whole gain recognition and therefore some power due to Tammany Hall. Once again, though, this did not really benefit people individually. Thanks for bringing this perspective to light!
DeleteThank you for going in depth on one very important example of the boss system, it really emphasizes how powerful they were. I really like how you described Tammany Hall's change in its attitude towards the Irish population, however, I agree with Owen about how this shift did not really end up helping the Irish. Finally, your connection to the American Dream at the end of your post helped clarify why the Irish were at the mercy of the bosses and why they had to put up with the horrible conditions described by Owen above.
ReplyDelete