Boss Tweed: His Rise To Power, Arrest, And Escape

By Linda Speckhals | December 10, 2022

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A photo of Tweed taken in 1870. Source: (Wikipedia).

William Magear Tweed, who would later be known as Boss Tweed was born at 1 Cherry Street, on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. His father was a furniture maker, and Tweed started learning his father’s trade at 11, but he had other ambitions.

Becoming A Volunteer Firefighter Led To Politics

He joined a volunteer fire company; these companies were tied to various immigrant communities and to street gangs, but they were also a place to recruit for political parties. Because Tweed became known to the Democratic party, he was elected to be the alderman for the Seventh Ward. In 1852, he served a term in Congress, returning to New York City politics after this. By the late 1850s, had held a number of local offices including school commissioner, member of the county board of supervisors, and street commissioner. In the process, he made political allies, who selected him to run the city’s political machine, Tammany Hall. Because of conditions in the city, and because problems were not being addressed, Tweed figured out how to profit from solving the problems that were not being addressed.

He Helped People Avoid The Draft

In 1863, one of Tweed’s first acts was to engineer a deal so that some family men were able to get exemptions from the draft. At the time, the wealthy were able to pay a substitute so they could avoid fighting in the war. Tammany Hall helped them with loans to pay for substitutes, a move that helped to build Tweed's popularity. 

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One of Nast's political cartoons featuring the Tammany Ring. Source: (Wikipedia).

Building His Ring

Tweed’s friend, George G. Barnard certified him as an attorney, and he used his law firm to extort money; this was not his only extortion scheme, however. He built the “Tweed Ring” (which was, incidentally, bipartisan) by getting his friends elected to office and managed to take control of New York City government after the election of 1869, helping them to get the new charter put in place in 1870, and Tammany was able to take over all 15 of the alderman positions as well as other offices. The Tweed Ring also had control of a Board of Audit, which was in control of the city finances. Thus, Tweed was able to collect millions of dollars from graft and skimming off the top.

Corruption

He became one of the largest landowners in New York City and was responsible for the development of upper Manhattan. For every construction project, contractors were told to multiply the amount of the bill by five, ten or a hundred, which they did, and once the original bill was paid, Tweed and his cronies took the remainder, defrauding the city of millions and increasing the city’s bond debt to nearly $90 million.

Election Fraud

Beyond the financial greed, the Tweed Ring manipulated elections, hiring people to vote multiple times and getting the police to protect them; stuffing ballot boxes with fake votes; and bribing or arresting election officials who questioned what was going on. They also hired thugs and crooked cops to “sway voters’ minds.” The people in government got their jobs based on patronage rather than talent.

He Did Help The Poor

Despite his corruption, he did help immigrants and the poor, ensuring they had a place to live, sufficient food, medical care, food, and jobs. The Tweed Ring provided basic services that were lacking in the city, for the price of a vote. Tweed also donated to the organizations that helped them. If a tenement burned down, members of the Tweed Ring followed the fire trucks to make sure the displaced residents were taken care of.