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William Magear "Boss" Tweed [note 1] (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and State.
Tammany Hall's electoral base lay predominantly with New York's burgeoning immigrant constituency, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall's patronage. In pre- New Deal America, the extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary public welfare system .
Sharkey's early adulthood coincided with the rise to power of William Tweed, whose Tammany Hall political machine had seized control of the city and engaged in systemic political corruption. Sharkey and his gang soon came to the attention of Tweed and his associates, who saw an opportunity to feed Sharkey's ambition while serving their own goals.
Puck magazine caricature of Kelly (on grill), 1881 This cartoon describes the aftermath of the fight for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1884.. John Kelly (April 20, 1822 – June 1, 1886) of New York City, known as "Honest John", was a boss of Tammany Hall and a U.S. Representative from New York from 1855 to 1858.
Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker", was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. [1] His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of Robert A. Van Wyck as the first mayor of all five boroughs .
Allegations of corruption rapidly grew as rumors spread that Boss Tweed and associates of Tammany Hall were laundering tax payers money in real estate and bribing New York State legislatures for favorable legislation. [15] New York City workers under the Tammany Hall system were paid excessive rates on the burden of tax payers.
Although indebted to the Tammany Hall political machine (and particularly to its boss, "Silent" Charlie Murphy), he remained untarnished by corruption and worked for the passage of progressive legislation. [11] It was during his early unofficial jobs with Tammany Hall that he gained renown as an orator. [12]
He ran on an anti-corruption, anti-crime, anti-Tammany Hall platform and promised to "teach the political bosses a lesson." Although a lifelong Democrat , he did not seek the party's nomination, instead running as the nominee of the Liberal Party .