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The Tweed Ring

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The Tweed Ring in New York, was a group that consisted of William Tweed, who ran Tammany Hall which was a powerful democratic machine, and his Tammany hall cohorts. In the 1860's and early 1870's, William Tweed served as the city's public work commissioner and as the state senator, which lasted from 1867-1871. William Tweed and his cohorts began to use their authority through the eyes of greed, which would mean finding ways to gain financial profit. Tweed and his followers became known as the Tweed Ring. They extorted $6 million from public treasury, which was later put to a newer estimate of $30 to $200 million. By the late 1860's, William Tweed became one of the largest landowners in New York City, and was living lavish. The Tweed Ring was …show more content…
This was mostly because the Tweed Ring provided jobs and basic needs, as well as helping to expand, and renovate numerous business' and buildings that needed their help in New York City. After three years of authority and power coming from the Tweed Ring, New York City's debt tripled, and the taxes rose as well. The biggest downfall came when newspapers such as "The times", and "Harpers weekly", began to release scandalous articles. However, even after this, in November of 1871, Tweed was reelected for another term in state senate. In December, he was arrested and pressed with charges of fraud. He was arrested several times, and on several occasions had either been released and recaptured, or had escaped and been recaptured. He was later placed in Ludlow street jail where he would remain until 1878, when he died of heart failure caused by pneumonia.

The credit mobilier scandal took place from 1872-1873. During this time, during the building of the …show more content…
The two men were president and vice president of the Erie Railroad. Gould and Fisk were known for fraudulent stock, and even bribing judges and politicians. They had earned their reputations and ruthless, financial masterminds. They also had a partnership with an important power player of Tammany hall, William Tweed. In early 1869, gold was the official currency of international trade, but the United States had gone off the gold standard during the civil war. Congress authorized $450 million in government backed, "green-backs" in order to fund the Union march to war. During this time, Wall Street formed a special room called the "Gold Room" where people could trade the competing currencies, gold and greenbacks. Gould saw that he could buy up huge amounts of the gold until he had eventually cornered the market, then he could drive up the prices and sell for large profit. Gould had a big hurdle to jump, which was president Ulysses Grant. The U.S treasury had a policy that allowed them to buy greenbacks from the public which meant that the government could set the value of gold. They decided when the price would go up and down. If Gould tried to corner the market, Grant could order the treasury to sell of large amounts of gold and drive the prices through the roof. Each side of the issue brought different solutions to their idea for a long time, and still the issue had a constant ripple

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