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'The Irish Famine stimulated a desire to emigrate. The figures for this period show a dramatic
increase in Irish people arriving in the United States: 92,484 in 1846, 196,224 in 1847, 173,744 in
1848, 204,771 in 1849, and 206,041 in 1850. By the end of 1854 nearly two million people'.5 This
meant that an astonishing quarter of the population had emigrated in less than a decade. To
understand the Irish surge in American politics, it must be highlighted that Irish Americans came
from a society that had seen unprecedented mass political mobilisation from the 1820's to the
1840's with Daniel O'Connells strive for emancipation and repeal. The Irish were certainly
accustomed to political involvement and participating in political activity. Accompanying this
1 http://www.bookrags.com/research/political-bosses-sjpc-04/
2 Kevin Kenny, The American Irish, A History London 2000 p 212
3 Kevin Kenny, The American Irish, A History p 80
4 William D. Griffin 'A Portrait Of The Irish In America' Dublin 1981, p 114
5 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEireland.htm
already profound advantage, was the strong command the Irish held of the English language, as
they were also over four million Italian immigrants by 1920, this was a key factor in setting them
out on the front foot. Ireland, as a colony had long tradition of distrusting established authorities
due to oppression from the British government or by landlords, participating in subterranean
politics and establishing secret societies. There was an additional reason that further faciltated
political success for the Irish as Lawrence John McCaffrey argues that the Irish were forced into
politics by Anglo Protestants as he states, 'They ( Anglo- Protestants ) invested their best talent in
business and the professions' rather than politics. 'Nativist prejudices excluded Irish Catholics from
oppurtunities...forcing them into politics, religion and labour movements as avenues to Influence
and power.'6
Tammany Hall was first founded as a fraternal society in 1788 but by 1840 it became associated
with the Irish. By 1870, the Irish dominated Tammany Hall. Irish influence and authority within
The Tammany organisation had grown steadily since the 1830's, as their spokesmen rose from
precinct captains to ward leaders to city officials. By joining the reformers who overthrew Tweed in
1871, 'Honest' John Kelly, was able to replace him as Boss of Tammany, becoming the first in a line
of Irish Catholic leaders of the New York Democrats. At times of heavy criticism due to the
exploitations of Grand Sachem William Tweed, the Irish remained loyal to Tammany, in the face of
further criticism of strong Irish participation. 'The ignorant unthinking bigoted hordes which
Tammany brought up to its support'7 However , it was an Irish man who helped turnover Tammany's
tarnished reputation in the wake of Tweed. 'Honest' John Kelly broke his ties with Tweed in the
1860's and therefore was not tarnished by scandal. Kelly was a devout Catholic which attracted the
support of the respectable Irish middle class. He worked with Augustus Schell in reforming the
party and by the spring of 1872 'Schell and Kelly had reorganised and greatly enlarged Tammany's
central committee to diminish the power of Tweed's remaining allies. They also replaced many of
Tweed's former ward bosses.'8 By 1890 Irish bosses were in control of the major city machines
built up in the 1870s and 1880s. Kelly was succeeded by Richard Croker in Tammany, Brooklyn's
McLaughlin, the Bay Area's Buckley, Buffalo's Sheehan, Jersey City's Davis and Albany's Patrick
McCabe. Boston never developed a centralised machine, it was fractionalised, however the Irish
managed to gain control of the city from the turn of the century onward. 'Through persistence and
adroit maneuvering, the Irish arrived at the summit of urban politics, not only surviving the fall of
6 Lawrence John McCaffrey,The Irish Catholic diaspora in America, USA 1997 p 119
7 The New York Times, Thursday November 7 edition, 1872
8 Michael Allan Gordon, The Orange riots: Irish political violence in NewYork City, 1870 and 1871 New York 1993 p
202
their patron, but gaining control of the apparatus.'9
By 1900 there were five million first and second generation Irish people in America. The
Democratic party realised the importance of immigrant vote.With this flow of immigrants, the
machines exerted their influence quickly. They provided employment and welfare which they
regarded as favours that could be returned through votes. The machines were sometimes viewed as
corrupt as they bribed voters and fast tracked American citizenship to immigrants. 'While irish
catholics settled in urban America, Democratic politicians seeking their support at the polls, saw to
it that they were quickly naturalised, employed and registered to vote'10 The Naturalisation bureau
established in 1840 was responsible for providing citizenship promptly, witnesses were paid off to
declare a person was in the country for more than five years. However the Irish had no intention of
just simply being members of the constituency as they steadily accumulated control of their own
neighbourhoods, building mini machines within the general party structure, and began to mobilise
upwards on leadership scale from block/ ward heelers to district or precinct leaders to aldermen. 'In
their political quest for power, Irish politicians used Catholic solidarity as a voting base, saloons as
political clubs and police and fire department appointments as patronage sources to recruit votes
and party workers.'11 The immigrant vote was key to power and this was exemplified when
Tammany's candidate Fernando Wood became mayor from 1855-62 by securing the immigrant vote.
Gaining and maintaining power was effectively the name of the game, Geoorge Washington
Plunkitt outlined this acquisition of power with his famous philosophy 'I saw my oppurtunity's and
I took 'em'
The Irish politcal machines sustained their power into the twentieth century. In order to counter act
the anti-machine reform movement challenging the machines in the progressive era, they had to
adapt to the new circumstances in order to hold a firm grip over city politics. The progressive era
machine is often described as the second generation by various Historians. Whereas the nineteenth
century machine viewed reforms with hostility, the second generation embraced them and used
them as a further platform to cement their power. Kevin Kenny illustrates the wave of enthusiasm
by stating that the machines were 'favouring progressive labour and social wlefare legislation as a
way of consolidating power among its increasingly diverse working class constituents'12 They
realised that reforms such as the municipal control over utility companies presented them with a
The second generation machines also differed from the first generation in the sense that they paid
attention to, rather than ignored the 'new ethnic' groups arriving in North America. Jews, Italians
and Slavs were pouring into the country from the late nineteenth century onwards. The Irish still
received the better benfits and jobs, which in time would become the catalyst of their downfall.
'Local government employment in the three machine cities of New york, Jersey City and Albany
16 Ibid p 212
17 Ibid p 211
18 Lawrence John McCaffrey,The Irish Catholic diaspora in America, p 118
patronage.
It is easy to identitfy how the Irish attained such a leading role in the Democratic party from the
1870's until the mid nineteenth century. The weight of irish immigrants played a crucial part in theri
affiliation with and integration into the Democratic politics. The Democrats were also welcoming of
the Irish which played an integral part in attracting their support. Their sheer force of numbers
allowed machines to exert their influence, naturalise them and provide welfare that accumulated to
securing their vote. 'The fealty of the immigrant voter was partly secured by the judicious
dispensation of economic and political favors, but it also depended upon a rough sense of
identification with the organization and its constituents.'19 The Irish with their population within the
cities soon became dominant in machine politics. Once holding the position of authority, the Irish
carried on the tradition of attracting support from offering benefits and welfare assistance to
immigrants. They were also successful in consolidating their power under circumstances of anti-
machine reformers in the progressive era and the New Deal era which brought about Federal
welfare that threatened to uproot the machines from their seat of control. In addition, some
maintained their dominance in the face of the new immigrant demands for greater participation and
more fruitious employment positons as many were on the lower scale of the civil service in the Fire
department and Police force. The introduction of Municipal politics suited the machines as they
used it as ameans of creating wider patronage pools. The ability of the macine to adapt was key to
their continuation of strength in city politics. Although often viewed as corrupt, it is unquestionable
that the machines looked after the welfare of their constituents, mainly the Irish yet the Jews,
Italians, Slave and other migrants were not neglected either.