Popular misgovernment in the United StatesCruikshank, Alfred Byron
History
Popular misgovernment in the United States
Cruikshank, Alfred Byron
Suffrage -- United States; United States -- Politics and government
“Was a victory of the South and West, especially by the latter; it
was a victory for democracy; but it was also a victory of organized
politics ... it seems to mark the rise of a class of professional
politicians. These men were not like the old ruling class whose
members were in politics largely from a sense of duty and public
service, or for the honor of it, or even for the sake of power; but
they were in politics as a business, not for the irregular profits
to be derived therefrom but to make a living.” (_Development of the
United States_, pp. 156, 157.)
It is really astonishing to note how speedily manhood suffrage developed
its appropriate mischiefs. Soon, with the increase of a purchasable
constituency the traffic in votes became more easy and common, and the
struggle for the spoils grew rapidly in intensity. The policy then put
into play of making the offices the spoils of politics produced in a
comparatively few years the beginnings of the political machine.
“General Jackson, the candidate of the populace, and the
representative hero of the ignorant masses, instituted a new system
of administering the government, in which the personal interests
became the most important element, and that organization and
strategy were developed which have since become known and infamous
under the name of the political machine.” (_Life of J. Q. Adams_ by
Morse, p. 214.)
About 1830 a new flood of immigration set in and the politicians made it
their business to win the favor of the immigrants and to organize the
great foreign vote and especially the Irish vote in New York City and
elsewhere. This was not difficult as there was neither opposition nor
competition. In New York they seized Tammany Hall, and perfected and
employed its organization and similar organizations elsewhere; they
developed and enthroned political bosses, and established and operated
political machines. The growth of this class is thus described by
Ostrogorski:
“But in proportion as the old generation which had founded the
republic disappeared, as the development of the country entailed
that of the public service, and the political contingents increased
through extension of the suffrage, the scramble for the loaves and
fishes became closer and keener. There arose a whole class of men
of low degree who applied all their energies in this direction, and
who sought their means of subsistence in politics, and especially
in its troubled waters.” (_Democracy and the Party System in the
United States_, p. 19.)
And further:
“The old political supremacy wielded by the élite of the nation,
... passed to an innumerable crowd of petty local leaders who
stood nearer to the masses but who too often were only needy
adventurers.” (P. 23.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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