11. The rise of Tammany Hall and the Republican Party
Tammany Hall and the Republican Party became thoroughly entwined in the late 1850s, and in 1857 the Republican-dominated state government recreated the government of New York City. Positions in the city government became appointed by Albany. Metropolitan police, fire, and health boards were created, their members were appointed by the governor. A city Board of Supervisors was also created. Tammany members began to shift their support to Democrats within the city and gradually power within New York politics was drawn away from the Republicans.
Tammany controlled virtually all elements of the electoral process in New York City by the time of the Civil War, and by 1868 it gained control of the state government in Albany. Among its many weapons was the fraudulent conduct of elections, under the control of its ward bosses, including repeated voting, shifting voters between wards, fraudulent naturalization papers for immigrants which allowed them to vote, the destruction of opposition ballots, and simply changing vote counts. By 1868, New York was controlled by Tammany Hall and its head sachem, a man known as Boss Tweed.