George Washington Plunkitt During The Gilded Age

William’s book Plunkitt of Tammany is a reflection of the political game played by George Washington Plunkitt, who was a politician. It carries the theme of politics and corruption. The book by Riordian particularly talks about the political life of George Washington Plunkitt. The wisdom and wit that George Washington Plunkitt had is used by today’s politicians. He is from a humble background, but raises to the position of the ward boss of the assembly district in New York.

William L. Riordon author of Honest Graft at the time was a newspaperman for the New York Evening Post who had interviewed ex-governor George Washington Plunkitt on politics, to where William L. Riordon began to save all the information provided by George Washington Plunkitt and would intrigue himself that the ex-governor is different from other fellow political bosses. George Washington Plunkitt in his early life was born into poverty in New York. As a child, he only received three years of schooling, but no amount of poverty and lack of schooling would stop him from becoming one of the most powerful men in New York’s politics. Later in his life he would die in 1924, but would stay as a well-known political leader and millionaire. The title of the book could refer to someone or something of equality and honesty, which does not have a negative connotation in any means.

Starship Troopers appears to be a political essay as well as a novel where the government had limited democracy. However, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall government was a democratic machine. The main focus of this essay is to compare and contrast the governments of Plunkitt of Tammany Hall and Starship Troopers. Additionally, I am going to talk about the lives of George Washington Plunkitt and Juan Rico. George Washington Plunkitt was a political figurehead during the late 1800s until the early 1900s in New York City.

The Colonist protested with a petition to the King and Parliament; however, their efforts was useless, and the Stamp Act became law. According to Williams, 2010, “the British government still had to pay for the maintaining a frontier army along the Proclamation Line of 1763; therefore, Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townson proposed a series of new customs duties he predicted world raise annual revenues of more than 40,000 ponds”. The Townshend Act placed taxes on glass, paint, paper, and tea to grenade the revenue for the Proclamation

Lincoln Steffens and Theodore Roosevelt both have views on the political corruption. Their point of views are similar and different. Political corruption is when politicians mess up and destroy the political system. This all took place during the gilded age. The gilded age was a time period that was also known as the golden age.

While in "Gilded Age", all levels of government had corruption, graft public money for their own. One of the most notorious New York City Boss Tweed William M. Tweed, his wealth has more than $25 million in 1871, all was dirty money. During the period he served as mayor of New York, the city requires all public officials to report false, false ratio as high as 85%. He presided over the construction of the New York county government office buildings, 40 chairs and 3 tables then discount about $179000, but a thermometer was quoted $7500. According to statistics, in 1860 ~ 1900, American municipal debt by $200 million soared to $1.4 billion, most of them are the City boss and partisans pocketed.

The World of George Washington Plunkitt by William L. Riordon. It is a collections of talks and writing of Plunkitt detailing about his life, politics, and general knowledge of the public. Many reformers saw the organization of Tammany Hall as a corrupt malignancy that plagued the American government. But Plunkitt argues that his work was always practical, legal and influential and helped shape the democratic system for the better. And as for his fortune, he simply states, “I seen my opportunities and I took em.”

The Gilded Age was the period between the late 19th century and early 20th century. During this time, the United States underwent a period of immense economic, political, and social growth. During this time, politics were highly corrupt and were dominated by political machines, people or organizations that influenced the common people to get more votes in favor of certain politicians. Scandals broke out that put the government in a negative light and tarnished its reputation. There were many forms of corruption like political machines which were organizations that were designed to keep certain political parties.

Corporate greedy and corrupt politicians were specific problems and injustices that were present in American life during the late 1800s and early 1900s however these were addressed during the progressive era with laws and regulations. Throughout the gilded era corrupt politicians and corporate greedy allowed the upper class and businessmen to take advantage of the working class. This means that a majority of the population were hurt during the gilded age whereas a small percentage benefitted. As seen in document 1, living conditions were crowded, dirty, and unsafe.

The abuse of power wasn’t just present amongst corporate businesses but also amongst politicians. This type of corruption led to one of the most well-known political corruption known for its infamy of machine politics was Tammany Hall. The Tammy Societies in the United States exercised a powerful influence in shaping the destinies and crystalizing the principles of our government, and having contributed to the development to our present government Tammany Hall was created as a means to oppose the Federalist Party and was headquarters of the Democratic Party in New York City headed by William Marcy Tweed also known as “Boss Tweed”. One of the most well-known political cartoonist of the time was named Thomas Nast, who drew about the political corruption of Tammany Hall at the time.

In this essay, I will be explaining how the commission plan, non-partisanship at large elections, city manager plan, and stronger mayors worked together to destroy the power of the urban bosses, along with who opposed and supported this reform. These all worked together to destroy urban bosses power by the creation of progressivism, and giving the people the right to choose their candidates. First let’s talk about how the commission plan, which was developed in Galveston, Texas in 1901, worked against urban bosses. The commission plan, which was originally known as the Galveston plan, removed the use of urban bosses paying politician 's way into office. These commissioners were chosen for specific aspects aspects of municipal affairs, for example: public works, finance, or public safety.

This was alarming to the colonist because they familiar with the “no taxation without representation”. This Act resulted in a strong unified violent response from the colonists. The colonist issue was not with the tax itself, it was the fact that parliament was trying to tax them with no elected representatives in Parliament.

The Gilded Age was to describe America in the late nineteenth century. The outside of the US seemed glamorous and splendid alongside industrial development and massive economic growth. However, the dark sides were hidden beneath it. In my perspective, I believe we are living in the 2nd Gilded age.

The Gilded Age lasted from 1870 to World War 1, “1900s.” The Gilded Age was a period of fast economic development, but also much social struggle. Mark Twain in the late nineteenth century founded the “Gilded” Age, which means covered with gold on the outside, but not really golden on the inside, for example, tin. This period of time was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In other words, the outside looked beautiful, but the inside looked old and trashy.

The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.