Editing Political Machine Era (section)

== Origins of Machine Politics ==

Philadelphia's political machine emerged from the turbulent politics of the post-Civil War era. The [[Act of Consolidation of 1854]] had created a larger city government with more offices to fill and more contracts to award, expanding opportunities for political organization. The Civil War strengthened the Republican Party through association with the Union cause, while Democrats suffered from their identification with secession and Copperhead opposition to the war. The assassination of [[Octavius Catto]] in 1871, killed by Democratic operatives trying to suppress the Black vote, further discredited Democrats and cemented Republican dominance in the city.<ref name="weigley">{{cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell F. |title=Philadelphia: A 300-Year History |year=1982 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York}}</ref>

The Gas Ring, led by James McManes, represented the first fully developed political machine in post-war Philadelphia. McManes controlled the Philadelphia Gas Works, a city-owned utility, and used the hundreds of jobs it provided to build a political organization that dominated city Republican politics through the 1870s. The Gas Ring demonstrated the essential elements of machine politics: control of public employment, systematic extraction of political assessments from employees, and organization of voters through networks of ward and division committeemen. McManes fell from power in 1881 after reformers exposed the Gas Ring's corruption, but his methods became the template for future machine operations.<ref name="mccaffery"/>