Power of Government in the Gilded Age UNIT I

Where is the power?! Some of the weakest president’s from U.S. history came from this period During this time of carving out a new society, power seemed to come from the foundation (local and state govs) Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland Harrison

Political Machines Strongest power seemed to come from the urban areas Tightly organized groups of politicians controlled the cities Each machine had a boss who then gave out government jobs to friends and supporters As corruption worsened, people began to heavily criticize these machines Many wrote about them in magazine articles, these journalists trying to expose corruption were known as muckrakers Time to look closer…

Document A Lincoln Steffens The Shame of the Cities

Sourcing 1. The author probably believes that something bad is happening in city governments 2. I think the audience is middle-class readers, mostly white and Christian 3. Based on the sourcing information, I predict the author will try to convince people that something bad (shameful) is happening in cities 4. I do / don’t trust this document because I think Steffens probably wanted to improve society

Contextualization 5. I already know that at this time many people were upset at a lot of problems in society 6. From this document I would guess that people at this time were feeling upset and angry about the level of corruption in American cities 7. This document might not give me the whole picture because it only reflects the views of middle-class Progressive reformers

Close Reading 8. I think the author chose these words because they probably made people feel they probably made people ashamed for letting all this corruption happen 9. The author is trying to convince the readers that corruption can start with a little bribe and everyone has a responsibility to reform government 10. The author tries to convince the readers by using the words that appeal to their sense of patriotism and morality

Document B George Plunkett “Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft”

Sourcing 11. The author probably believes that political machines are good and there are good forms of corruption 12. I think the audience is unclear, could be people who support him or Steffens 13. Based on the sourcing information, I predict the author will try to convince people that his way of running government is good 14. I do / don’t trust this document because I think Plunkitt is going to try to make himself look good

Contextualization 15. From this document I would guess that people at this time were feeling frustrated with corruption but my be confused about levels of corruption 16. This document might not give me the whole picture because it only reflects the views of a political boss, who will lose power if the progressives have their way

Close Reading 17. I think the author chose these words because they probably made people feel like Steffens was clueless and uptight 18. The author is trying to convince the readers that corruption can be good and even lead to patriotism 19. The author tries to convince the readers by using the words that support his cause and goals

Corroboration 20. Together these two documents tell me that at this time There was a lot of tension between political machines and reformers. Maybe Irish and immigrants took over running the city and the white, rich people wanted to get control back from them

“Boss” Tweed