William Magear Tweed was an American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York City and State. At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, the Tenth National Bank, and the New-York Printing Company, as well as proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel.[2]Tweed was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852 and the New York County Board of Supervisors in 1858, the year he became the head of the Tammany Hall political machine. He was also elected to the New York State Senate in 1867, but Tweed's greatest influence came from being…show more content… He died in the Ludlow Street Jail. His downfall was the wake of the Orange riot of 1871 whish came after Tammany Hall banned a parade of Iriish Protestants celebrating a historical victory against Catholicism. Later Catholic laborers attacked the paraders. Tammany let this happen and let the parade proceed even after the attack. The response to the Orange riot changed everything, and only days afterwards the Times/Nast campaign began to garner popular support. More importantly, the Times started to receive inside information from County Sheriff James O'Brien, whose support for Tweed had fluctuated during Tammany's reign. O'Brien had tried to blackmail Tammany by threatening to expose the ring's embezzlement to the press, and when this failed he provided the evidence he had collected to the Times.…show more content… In 1867, during Andrew Johnson's presidency, Congressman Oakes Ames distributed cash bribes and discounted Crédit Mobilier shares of stock to other congressmen, in exchange for votes and actions favorable to the Union Pacific. The story was broken by the New York newspaper, The Sun, during the 1872 presidential campaign, when Ulysses S. Grant was running for re-election. Included in the group of legislators named as having received cash or discounted shares of stock were: former Representative Schuyler Colfax, then serving as Grant's Vice President; Henry Wilson, the senator selected to replace Colfax as vice presidential nominee during the 1872 Presidential election; James G. Blaine, then-Speaker of the House; and Representative James Garfield, the future president of the United States. The scandal caused widespread public distrust of Congress and the federal government during the Gilded Age. Ultimately, Congress investigated 13 of its members in a probe that led to the censure of Ames and James Brooks, a Democrat from New York.
