Gilded Age Politics

Explain how the Political Machines operated during the Gilded Age and how they helped contribute to the political corruption of the time.

1876

Political machines were operated by bosses, bosses controlled people and institutions and used things that would appeal to the most desperate and poor and the rich. The problem was bosses were involved in illegal activities such as gambling, prostitution rings, bribing city officials, and voter fraud. Bosses would bend and break rules in order to suit their needs.

Explain the Plessy V. Ferguson court decision and the effect it had on the South and “Jim Crow” laws.

1900

Plessy V. Ferguson was a law that would keep Jim Crow laws in place but it would separate White people and African American people. Jim Crow laws were created to separate white and non white public facilities such as Schools,libraries,theaters, and other facilities. Transportation such as bus cars were also separate. This outraged Colored people because this law didn’t change even after the civil war.