The Great Hunger was not the only push the Irish needed to come to America.  Oppressed by their British landlords, they set off to America to save money and buy a farm upon returning home to Ireland.  The Irish were surprised by the degree Anglo-American nativism when they arrived in New York.  It perpetuated their lives every day, from their jobs struggles to public mockery by publications such as Harper’s Weekly.  Because Americans of British descent were overwhelmingly Protestant and Republican in New York City during the last half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, the Irish took a stand exactly opposite, aligning themselves almost immediately with the Democratic Party and Tammany Hall, who looked after immigrant needs much more than Republicans.1  The history of the Irish and these two political associations continued until the years following the World War II.
    Tammany Hall, the premier Democratic Party machine, made friends with immigrants quickly in New York City.  It was founded in 1789, but really became a force in the mid-nineteenth century with the influx of cheap Irish labor, who would initially oppose abolition movements.  The manner in which Tammany courted the Irish vote involved gifts of food and coal to the poor residents in slums such as Five Points.  Saloons, dominated city-wide by the Irish, were “cornerstones” of Tammany neighborhoods.2  Here the aforementioned gifts were dispersed and favors promised by local politicians.
    The most famous Tammany politician was “Boss” William Tweed, a Protestant, who despite opposing his religious beliefs, was a friend to the Irish Catholic population of New York City.  Using the Irish vote, Tweed became the center of Tammany politics from 1859 until 1871.  During that time, he organized an Irish volunteer fire department, but managed to keep the Irish in lower socio-economic positions by providing them with steady, low-paying jobs, which were better than unemployment.  Another example of Tweed courting the Irish vote in New York City was his political effort to block the Orange Parade of 1870, which was unanimously backed by the Irish population.  Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall was quite corrupt.  During his rule over the Tammany machine, Tweed paid for the printing of almost two hundred thousand immigration and naturalization forms, false of course, and false witnesses to testify that two hundred thousand Irish immigrants had lived in New York for more than five year and were eligible to vote.3  Despite Tweed’s relationship with the Irish, they became determined to dig themselves out of their slums and take on more power, which they did when Tweed was prosecuted for his corrupt practices in 1871.

William Tweed of Tammany Hall.
Picture taken from http://www.earthstation.com/Tammany_Hall.html
 

    When Boss Tweed was removed from power in Tammany, “Honest” John Kelly, an American of Irish ancestry took his place.  Kelly opposed the blatant graft of the Tweed Ring, but did not, however, oppose “honest” graft, which included taking money for political favors.4  In his view, this was different that plain stealing from city residents.  Kelly’s Catholic background influenced his rule over Tammany.  He changed its power structure to a pyramid model resembling the Catholic Church.5  When he stepped down, he chose his successor, Richard Croker.  After this structural change, the Irish would control Tammany Hall until World War II.  Despite the change in Tammany leadership, the Irish residents of New York City as a whole did benefit greatly from Tammany because after Kelly stepped down, corruption and graft again became prevalent.  In fact, corruption got to be so bad that Theodore Roosevelt often complained of how it ruined politics in his state.
    “Big” Tim Sullivan, the Tammany Boss for the Five Points district, was notorious for his illegal activities.  Bayor and Meagher assert that rent payments Sullivan made for some of his constituents was a payoff for protection in a prostitution investigation in the 1870s.6  Although Sullivan was not honest, he did recognize the need to do more for the Irish population of New York than simply providing food and fuel.  Some of the improvements Sullivan began as to the conditions of the Irish population in New York were setting up political clubs throughout the city, which made them more politically active.
    At the beginning of the twentieth century, Charles Francis Murphy became New York City’s Tammany Hall leader.  Murphy proved to be different from the previous Tammany bosses in that he was concerned about the social and economic status of the Irish in New York City.  He supported social legislation that benefited the poorer residents of New York, such as taxing absentee Protestant landlords that moved to the suburbs and increasing public monetary benefits.  Tammany under Murphy also worked with the New York Archdiocese, funding some of its social programs with government money.7These social programs were usually directed at Catholic immigrants, usually the Irish and Italians, but particularly the Irish because of their staunch support and the fact that most Archbishops in New York were Irish during the years 1850 to 1920.  Tammany and its practices became so identified that an anonymous resident of New York City referred to it is “a Mafia, but it was run by Irish-Catholic-Democrats.”8  As Irish influence in Tammany politics grew, more and more Irish men were appointed to city councils and committees.  By 1918, an Irishman was the governor of New York State.

Charles Francis Murphy.
Picture taken from http://www.earthlink.com/Tammany_Hall.html