Editing William M. Tweed (section)

==Early career==
[[File:Americus Engine Co No 6 Soiree crop.jpg|thumb|Ticket to an 1859 "soiree" to benefit Tweed's Americus Engine Co.]]
Tweed became a member of the [[Odd Fellows]] and the [[Freemasonry|Masons]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=Denis Tilden |title='Boss' Tweed: The Story of a Grim Generation |date=2002 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-1600-7 |page=418 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ipAxruFk54AC&pg=PA418 }}</ref> and joined a volunteer fire company, Engine No. 12.<ref name=encnyc /> In 1848, at the invitation of state assemblyman John J. Reilly, he and some friends organized the Americus Fire Company No. 6, also known as the "Big Six", as a [[volunteer fireman|volunteer fire company]], which took as its symbol a snarling red [[Bengal tiger]] from a French lithograph,<ref name="allen"/> a symbol which remained associated with Tweed and [[Tammany Hall]] for many years.<ref name= encnyc /> At the time, volunteer fire companies competed vigorously with each other; some were connected with street gangs and had strong ethnic ties to various immigrant communities.  The competition could become so fierce, that burning buildings would sometimes be ignored as the fire companies fought each other.<ref>Burrows & Wallace, pp. 654, 724, 823.</ref> Tweed became known for his ax-wielding violence, and was soon elected the Big Six foreman. Pressure from Alfred Carlson, the chief engineer, got him thrown out of the crew. However, fire companies were also recruiting grounds for political parties at the time, thus Tweed's exploits came to the attention of the Democratic politicians who ran the Seventh Ward. The Seventh Ward put him up for Alderman in 1850, when Tweed was 26.  He lost that election to the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] candidate [[Morgan Morgans]], but ran again the next year and won, garnering his first political position.<ref>Burrows & Wallace, p. 823.</ref> Tweed then became associated with the [[Tammany Hall#Political gangs and the Forty Thieves|"Forty Thieves"]], the group of aldermen and assistant aldermen who, up to that point, were known as some of the most corrupt politicians in the city's history.<ref name="allen"/>

Tweed was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1852, but his two-year term was undistinguished.<ref name=gotham837>Burrows & Wallace, p. 837.</ref> In an attempt by Republican reformers in [[Albany, New York|Albany]], the state capital, to control the Democratic-dominated New York City government, the power of the New York County Board of Supervisors was beefed up. The board had 12 members, six appointed by the mayor and six elected, and in 1858 Tweed was appointed to the board, which became his first vehicle for large-scale [[Graft (politics)|graft]]; Tweed and other supervisors forced vendors to pay a 15% overcharge to their "ring" in order to do business with the city.<ref name=gotham837 /> By 1853, Tweed was running the seventh ward for Tammany.<ref name=encnyc /> The board also had six Democrats and six Republicans, but Tweed often just bought off one Republican to sway the board. One such Republican board member was Peter P. Voorhis, a coal dealer by profession who absented himself from a board meeting in exchange for $2,500 so that the board could appoint city inspectors. [[Henry Smith (speaker)|Henry Smith]] was another Republican that was a part of the Tweed ring.<ref name="allen"/>
[[File:Nast-Prey-Harper's-Weekly-1871.jpg|thumb|''A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to "Blow Over"—"Let Us Prey."'' by [[Thomas Nast]], ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' newspaper, September 23, 1871.  "Boss" Tweed and members of his ring, [[Peter B. Sweeny]], [[Richard B. Connolly]], and [[A. Oakey Hall]], weathering a violent storm on a ledge with the picked-over remains of New York City.]]

Although he was not trained as a lawyer, Tweed's friend, Judge [[George G. Barnard]], certified him as an attorney, and Tweed opened a law office on Duane Street. He ran for [[New York City Sheriff's Office|sheriff]] in 1861 and was defeated, but became the chairman of the Democratic General Committee shortly after the election, and was then chosen to be the head of Tammany's general committee in January 1863. Several months later, in April, he became "Grand Sachem", and began to be referred to as "Boss", especially after he tightened his hold on power by creating a small executive committee to run the club.<ref name=encnyc /> Tweed then took steps to increase his income: he used his law firm to extort money, which was then disguised as legal services; he had himself appointed deputy street commissioner&nbsp;– a position with considerable access to city contractors and funding; he bought the New-York Printing Company, which became the city's official printer, and the city's stationery supplier, the Manufacturing Stationers' Company, and had both companies begin to overcharge the city government for their goods and services.<ref name=encnyc /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Tweed Ring|last=Callow|first=Alexander|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1981|isbn=978-0-313-22761-5|location=Westport, Conn|oclc=7576014}}</ref>{{Rp|17–32}} Among other legal services he provided, he accepted almost $100,000 from the Erie Railroad in return for favors. He also became one of the largest owners of real estate in the city.<ref name="allen"/> He also started to form what became known as the "Tweed Ring", by having his friends elected to office: George G. Barnard was elected [[Recorder of New York City]]; [[Peter B. Sweeny]] was elected [[New York County District Attorney]]; and [[Richard B. Connolly]] was elected City Comptroller.<ref name=gotham837 /> Other judicial members of the Tweed ring included [[Albert Cardozo]], [[John McCunn]], and [[John K. Hackett]].<ref name="allen"/>

When Grand Sachem [[Isaac Vanderbeck Fowler|Isaac Fowler]], who had produced the $2,500 to buy off the Republican Voorhis on the Board of Supervisors, was found to have stolen $150,000 in post office receipts, the responsibility for Fowler's arrest was given to [[Isaiah Rynders]], another Tammany operative who was serving as a United States marshal at the time. Rynders made enough ruckus upon entering the hotel where Fowler was staying that Fowler was able to escape to Mexico.<ref name="allen"/>
[[File:Nast-Boss-Tweed-1871.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Nast]] depicts Tweed in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' (October 21, 1871)]]

With his new position and wealth came a change in style: Tweed began to favor wearing a large diamond in his shirtfront&nbsp;– a habit that [[Thomas Nast]] used to great effect in his attacks on Tweed in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' beginning in 1869&nbsp;– and he bought a [[brownstone]] to live in at 41 West 36th Street, then a very fashionable area.  He invested his now considerable illegal income in real estate, so that by the late 1860s he ranked among the biggest landowners in New York City.<ref name=encnyc />

Tweed became involved in the operation of the [[New York Mutuals]], an early [[professional baseball]] club, in the 1860s. He brought in thousands of dollars per home game by dramatically increasing the cost of admission and [[Sports betting|gambling]] on the team.<ref name="purdy">{{cite book |last1=Purdy |first1=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcQ0P-6P7q4C&pg=PA215 |title=Kiss 'Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of Failed, Forgotten, and Departed Teams |year=2010 |publisher=[[Random House Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-345-52047-0 |page=215 |language=en |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref> He has been credited with originating the practice of [[spring training]] in 1869 by sending the club south to [[New Orleans]] to prepare for the season.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Seymour |first1=Harold |last2=Mills |first2=Dorothy Seymour |title=Baseball: The Early Years |year= 1989 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-983917-9 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0AzIUSqzd8C&pg=PA183 |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fountain |first1=Charles |title=Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training |year= 2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-974370-4 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaAMQY5-4nMC&pg=PA11 |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Tweed was a member of the [[New York State Senate]] (4th D.) from 1868 to 1873, sitting in the [[91st New York State Legislature|91st]], [[92nd New York State Legislature|92nd]], [[93rd New York State Legislature|93rd]], and [[94th New York State Legislature]]s, but not taking his seat in the [[95th New York State Legislature|95th]] and [[96th New York State Legislature]]s. While serving in the State Senate, he split his time between Albany, New York and New York City. While in Albany, he stayed in a suite of seven rooms in Delevan House. Accompanying him in his rooms were his favorite canaries. Guests are presumed to have included members of the [[Black Horse Cavalry]], thirty state legislators whose votes were up for sale.<ref>Allen, p. 100.</ref> In the Senate he helped financiers [[Jay Gould]] and [[Big Jim Fisk]] to take control of the [[Erie Railroad]] from [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]] by arranging for legislation that legitimized fake Erie stock certificates that Gould and Fisk had issued. In return, Tweed received a large block of stock and was made a director of the company.<ref name="encnyc" /> Tweed was also subsequently elected to the board of the Gould-controlled Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad (future [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]) in January 1870.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baer |first=Christopher T. |url=http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR1870.pdf |title=A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT |date=October 2015 |pages=3}}</ref>