Negative Effects Of Political Machines

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Political machines were groups that were designed to keep a particular political party or group of people in power. They controlled activities of a political party in a city and offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support. However, political machines could be vengeful, therefore negative for society. Political machines would seek revenge against their disloyal voters. They would steal millions of dollars from taxpayers to gain money and power illegaly. About sixty five percent of public funds ended up in the hands of Boss Tweed and his collegues in the 1860's. They collected bills for construstion projects with fake expenses. Tweed Ring possessed millions of dollars in graft between 1865 and 1871. For example, by helping a person find work on a construction project for a city, a political machine could ask the worker to bill the city for more than the actual cost of material and labor. The worker would then "kick back" a portion of the money to the machine. So when the loyalty of voters was not enough, political machines turned to frauds.…show more content…
There were stories about people voting more than once in elections with the help of political machines. They woulduse fake names to cast as many votes needed to win the election. Once in Philadelphia, a district with less than a hundred registered voters ended up with two hundred fifty-two votes at the end. Obviously due to corruption and election fraud. Some citizens then began to command reform or advancements in their city and state. Politcal machines did have advantages but mostly disadvantages. What political machines did was wrong and illegal. They stole millions of dollars from many people and they were involved with fraud. So political machines had a negative
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