Political leaders preferred to think that they headed organizations, but their opponents referred to them pejoratively as “bosses” and their disciplined followers as “machines.” In fact, fielding candidates and winning elections necessitated the formation of organized political parties. American parties are decentralized and comprise local units that are built from the ground up. In the Gilded Age, political organizations were fine-tuned to the point that, in many urban areas and in some states, they achieved machinelike efficiency.
The Democratic machine in New York City, Tammany Hall, and the Republican machine in Pennsylvania are the most renowned, but they were not alone, since virtually all politicians attempted to organize their supporters.
The basic element in all political machines was the worker in direct contact with voters. In cities it was the precinct captain who knew everyone and their problems, offered them help when needed, and made sure they got to the polls. Above the precinct captain was the ward boss and above him the district leader and, ultimately, the urban boss. Since no one working 10 hours a day for six days a week could find the time or energy to be in such close contact with the electorate, the political leader in whose interest they worked found them jobs in the municipal, state, and federal civil service where they put in less than a full day for a good salary. With their livelihood dependent on victory at the polls (since the opposition, if triumphant, would replace them with its party hacks), political workers did their utmost for the machine.
Political machines were most difficult to overthrow in the Gilded Age because direct primary elections for candidates were rare. The first mandatory primary law was adopted in 1903 in Wisconsin, and the passage of similar laws in other states hampered the activity of political machines in the 20th century. In the late 19th century, however, nominations for local, state, and national offices were made by conventions whose delegates were also selected by conventions. Hence, local conventions would nominate local candidates and also select delegates to the county convention and so up the line to the quadrennial national convention. To overthrow a boss, reformers had the daunting if not impossible task of gaining control of local conventions, which were often held in saloons and occasionally in bordellos.
Machines were occasionally overthrown and often threatened, but they were either repaired or prevailed. Their operators were tenacious, while reformers—as George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall observed— faded like morning glories. But political bosses, while clinging to power, accomplished little beyond running their machines. The Republican machine in Pennsylvania had a remarkably long life, but its operators—Senators Simon and
Donald Cameron, Matthew Quay, and Boies Penrose—had virtually no legislative impact. They were able men, but when not dealing with major revolts by local Philadelphia or Pittsburgh machines or by reformers, they were consumed by the minutiae involved in balancing the demands of minor politicians in every small town in the state.
Further reading: James A. Kehl, Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981); Joel Arthur Tarr, A Study in Boss Politics: William Lorimer of Chicago (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971).
World History
