Tammany Hall facts for kids

Cattoon of the Tammany rotten egg

Tammany Hall, (also called the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order), named for Tamanend (meaning "affable"), a Native American leader of the Lenni Lenape, was started in 1786 and was declared on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It was the Democratic political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics. It also helped many immigrants, especially the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s. In 1858 William Marcy Tweed became its leader.

Images for kids

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  William M. Tweed, known as "Boss" Tweed, ran an efficient and corrupt political machine based on patronage and graft.

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  Puck cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper: "Lots of hunters after a very sick tiger" (1893)

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  Tammany Hall decorated for the 1868 Democratic National Convention

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  A bird's-eye-view map of New York and Brooklyn (1893), titled "A Cinch. Says Boss Croker to Boss McLaughlin: "Shake!"(The boss of Tammany Hall in New York, Richard Croker, and the boss of the Brooklyn political machine, Hugh McLaughlin, reach across the East River to shake hands in cooperation).

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  All politics revolved around the Boss. 1899 cartoon from Puck.

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  170 Nassau Street in 1893

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  44 Union Square, the former Tammany Hall building at 17th Street and Park Avenue South, across from Union Square, housed a theatre and a film school until renovations commenced in 2016.

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  Tammany Ring by Thomas Nast; "Who stole the people's money?" / "'Twas him."

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  Tammany Hall on East 14th Street between Third Avenue and Irving Place in Manhattan, New York City (1914). The building was demolished c.1927.