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No political scandal in American history has had a greater impact on America's political consciousness than the rise and fall of the "Tweed Ring" in New York City between 1866 and 1871. In an age ripe with scandal both public and private, the spectacular corruption charged to "Boss" Tweed and his associates-estimates of their extortion range from $20 million to $200 million-became an enduring symbol of the dark side of democratic politics.The Tweed Ring contributed much more than cartoonist impressions: it helped to shape a powerful theory of political reform. It was in truth one of the formative events of progressivism, that multifaceted doctrine that has evolved into the modern American creed. In this sense, the Tweed Ring was to produce not only deep misgivings about the existing regime, but an insight into how it should be reformed.Denis Tilden Lynch's biography of "Boss" Tweed was fi rst published in 1927, in a time fi lled, like Tweed's, with sudden prosperity, daunting problems, and spectacular scandals. It is a straightforward, workmanlike study, untroubled by the conceits of modern historical scholarship, and close enough to its subject's generation to have some of the immediacy of journalism. Of all the books published about the Tweed affair, Lynch's study is the only one that is a genuine biography, in which the man himself is the focus. For this reason it conveys something of the texture of daily life in New York in the nineteenth century, while bringing Tweed out from behind the shadows of Thomas Nast's leering cartoons, and presenting him, as much as is possible, as a man and not an icon. An interesting example of Americana, this volume will be of interest to historians of the period as well as those interested in American urban and political life.
| Illustrations | p. x |
| Transaction Edition | p. xi |
| Tweed's Ancestry | p. 13 |
| He enters the world | |
| Gold's limitations | |
| "Statesman!" | |
| Apology and Error | p. 21 |
| An old game | |
| His Boyhood | p. 27 |
| His schooling discussed | |
| His fistic prowess | |
| Leads the Cherry Hill gang | |
| Goes to boarding school | |
| Courtship and marriage | |
| Gangsters Enter Politics | p. 40 |
| Ballot box magic | |
| The Old Order Dies Hard | p. 45 |
| His political credo | |
| The Tiger | p. 51 |
| Forrest-Macready riot | |
| Paving stones versus bullets | |
| Loses his first contest | |
| The merry sailor | |
| Nominated for Alderman | |
| Seeks a stalking horse | |
| The Forty Thieves | p. 67 |
| Marionettes | |
| Ringing the bell | |
| Elected to Congress | |
| Traction bribery | |
| Broadway bus scandal | |
| Defies court | |
| "The echo of the dollars" | |
| Moral support | |
| A corrupt court | |
| Journalistic rivals | |
| Punishing the critics | |
| Jake Sharp sees victory | |
| Jay Gould Penniless | p. 95 |
| Gould gets religion | |
| How Jason became Jay | |
| Gould defrauds another | |
| Owns railroad at twenty-one | |
| No unnecessary violence, but | |
| How Wood Was Named Fernando | p. 109 |
| Turns professional politician | |
| Tammany against him | |
| The Wets and Drys battle | |
| Hone's "notorious bandit" | |
| Wood elected Mayor | |
| Local Autonomy | p. 122 |
| Ananias can be truthful | |
| Half-bulldog and half-leech | |
| The mask of reform | |
| The Amphibious Wood | p. 131 |
| Cant | |
| The comedy is finished | |
| Tilden, Editor | p. 138 |
| Scores prohibition | |
| Making a martyr | |
| Fanatics defeat Tilden | |
| As Fernando sees himself | |
| Playing on Prejudices | p. 149 |
| Debasing the primary | |
| W. B. Astor whitewashes Wood | |
| Infernal fires | |
| Kicking them out | |
| Armageddon | |
| Tweed's defeat | |
| "Suffer Little Children ..." | p. 165 |
| Underfed bodies and famished minds | |
| A slave of emotions | |
| Cobbler decides for Greeley | |
| A bat with a woman's face | |
| Madame Killer | |
| Vox populi | |
| Madame Restell scores | |
| A scion of Citizen Genet | |
| The Bi-partisan Board | |
| The outlaw police force | |
| The Police riot | |
| July 4, 1857 | |
| Erecting the barricade | |
| The battle | |
| An orderly retreat | |
| The rout | |
| Regularity | |
| Political auxiliaries | |
| Bigotry versus Bigotry | p. 205 |
| When the City Hall was sold | |
| The new Grand Sachem | |
| The Dominant Idea in Politics | p. 212 |
| Tweed follows Wood's example | |
| The Grand Sachem escapes | |
| Boor, Satyr, and Clown | |
| Rynders threatens Tweed | |
| The argument of freedom | |
| A free city | |
| Kerrigan's army | |
| "A Sulky, Unbroken Silence" | p. 229 |
| A quack imitates society | |
| Tweed Defeated for Sheriff | p. 235 |
| Tweed elected County Chairman | |
| Regaining His Fortune | p. 240 |
| "A career at nisi prius" | |
| "Better let the dirt alone" | |
| An unjust clause | |
| The Draft Riots Begin | p. 248 |
| The mobs | |
| Citizens flee the city | |
| A self-destructive mob | |
| The gentle rain | |
| "I Am Your Friend" | p. 258 |
| The giant barricade | |
| A mob at play | |
| Decimation | |
| Tweed Made a Lawyer | p. 267 |
| Tweed, Fisk and Gould meet | |
| Tweed changes his plan | |
| The Man of the People | |
| How the Bridge Was Built | p. 276 |
| The Americus Club | |
| The value of charity | |
| Tweed and Tilden differ | |
| Elected State Senator | |
| Undoing a Veto | p. 287 |
| Purification | |
| Making an election safe | |
| An unanswered letter | |
| How the Ring Worked | p. 296 |
| Fisk's seraglio | |
| Some small stealings | |
| "First class citizens" | |
| "The Imperialist" | |
| Woman Suffrage | |
| Beecher declines | |
| Distinguished guests | |
| "Black Friday" | |
| Tweed sweeps the State | |
| "Citizen" Train | |
| "The gentle philosopher" | |
| Tweed Among the Elite | p. 321 |
| The Board of Audit | |
| Tweed rebukes Tilden | |
| The revolt | |
| "The Boss still lives" | |
| Hailed as a Reformer | p. 333 |
| "Triumph of Tweed Complete" | |
| "Sheer plunder" | |
| The Crusade begins | |
| The dream of empire lasts | |
| A speech | |
| J. J. Astor to the rescue | |
| The statue | |
| Dana Consoles Tweed | p. 351 |
| Nordhoff's dismissal | |
| Fisticuffs in the Assembly | |
| A regal wedding | |
| Forebodings of disaster | |
| Refuses $5,000,000 | |
| Greeley awakes | |
| The Orange riot | |
| "Murdered by ..." | |
| "Hang Them" | p. 370 |
| Talk of lynching | |
| Barnard has visions | |
| Tweed's defiance | |
| Fighting fate | |
| The Boss at bay | |
| O'Donovan Rossa | |
| Tilden in the Saddle | p. 385 |
| Purging the courts | |
| Catering to prejudice | |
| Convicted | p. 393 |
| In prison | |
| The escape | |
| The capture | |
| "A little earth for charity" | |
| The scapegoat | |
| Mirroring the past | |
| Fairchild dodges | |
| "This breach of faith" | |
| His solace | |
| The jail door opens | |
| A contrast | |
| Bibliography | p. 419 |
| Index | p. 425 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780765809346
ISBN-10: 0765809346
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 480
Published: 1st April 2003
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2
x 2.7
Weight (kg): 0.699
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