How Political Machines Helped Evolve American Cities - Essay Example

It is purely based on patronagei. These are a group of people having a political power to control ‘behind-the-scene.’ A political machine is normally composed of three (3) elements: the part bosses or a county committee; election district captains; and party loyalists. (The Social Studies Help Center, 2007) Each department of the political machine has a specific role to play. officers, have the power to dominate and rule over the elections and the city government. This gives them the power to choose individuals they wish to nominate as part of the government officials like city mayors, judges, county commissioners, and prosecutors.

The district captains are responsible in establishing a good relationship with hundreds of families within their district by helping the family members find jobs. Sometimes, district captains may assist the family members in solving minor legal problems. Most of the time, the captains are obliged to do some informal social services like providing the family members some money, food, shelter, and clothing. Lastly, the party loyalists contributes a lot to the political machine with votes and financial support that comes from extending favors to those who are in need of jobs.

The party loyalists collect approximately 10 percent of the salaries of each individual working in the city. The development of infrastructure is very important in the economic development of a country. Let us take a look at the past effects of political machine in New York City. Sometime between the years 1820 – 1870, the population of New Yorkers rose up to 800,000 due to the Irish and German immigrants composing of half the total population in the city of New York. The development of urban infrastructure like streets, roads, buildings, telecommunication system, electricity and transportation like railroad were inadequate due to the sudden demand for a change.

The officials of the city government were not capable of solving the sudden environmental,