Editing Tammany Hall (section)

===Immigrant support===
Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, the Society expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's ever-expanding immigrant community, which functioned as a base of political capital. During the 1840s, hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants arrived in New York City to escape the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] and Tammany saw its power grow greatly.<ref>{{cite web |date=2011 |url=http://ww25.racontrs.com/stories/city-hall-stories/tammany-hall-boss-tweed/?subid1=20230122-0224-1349-9922-e9bfdc55e33b |website=Racontours|access-date=17 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129101229/http://www.racontrs.com/stories/city-hall-stories/tammany-hall-boss-tweed/ |archive-date=29 November 2012
| title= Tammany Hall: Boss Tweed & Thomas Nast
| url-status= usurped 
}}</ref> Tammany Hall's electoral base lay predominantly with New York's burgeoning immigrant constituency, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall's patronage. In pre-[[New Deal]] America, the extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary [[Social welfare provision|public welfare system]]. Irish immigrants became even more influential during the mid-1840s to early 1850s. With the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] in Ireland, by 1850, more than 130,000 immigrants from Ireland lived in New York City. Since the newly arrived immigrants were in deep poverty, Tammany Hall provided them with employment, shelter, and even citizenship sometimes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/tammany-hall.cfm|title=Tammany Hall|website=www2.gwu.edu|access-date=October 28, 2016}}</ref> For example, the group gave referrals to men looking for work and [[legal aid]] to those who needed it. Tammany Hall would also provide food and financial aid to families with sick or injured breadwinners. In an example of their involvement in the lives of citizens, in the course of one day, Tammany figure [[George Washington Plunkitt]] assisted the victims of a house fire; secured the release of six [[Drunkenness|drunks]] by speaking on their behalf to a judge; paid the rent of a poor family to prevent their eviction and gave them money for food; secured employment for four individuals; attended the funerals of two of his constituents (one Italian, the other Jewish); attended a [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah|Bar Mitzvah]]; and attended the [[Jewish wedding|wedding of a Jewish couple]] from his ward.{{sfn|Riordan|1963|p=91-93}}

Tammany Hall took full advantage of the burgeoning numbers of Irish immigrants to gather more votes. By 1855, 34 percent of New York City's voter population was composed of Irish immigrants, and many Irish men came to dominate Tammany Hall.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Abdolhamidi|first=Shervin|url=https://untappedcities.com/2016/11/07/the-top-10-secrets-of-tammany-hall-the-democratic-political-machine-that-ran-nyc/9/|title=The Top 10 Secrets of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Political Machine That Ran NYC|website=www.untappedcities.com|access-date=November 24, 2020|date=November 7, 2016}}</ref> Tammany Hall also served as a social integrator for immigrants by familiarizing them with American society and its political institutions and by helping them become [[Naturalization|naturalized citizens]]. One example was the naturalization process organized by [[William M. Tweed]]. Under Tweed's regime, "naturalization committees" were established. These committees were made up primarily of Tammany politicians and employees, and their duties consisted of filling out paperwork, providing witnesses, and lending immigrants money for the fees required to become citizens. Judges and other city officials were bribed and otherwise compelled to go along with the workings of these committees.<ref>Connable and Silberfarb, p. 154</ref> In exchange for all these benefits, immigrants assured Tammany Hall they would vote for their candidates.<ref name="uoqbvoaofy" /> By 1854, the support Tammany Hall received from immigrants would firmly establish the organization as the leader of New York City's political scene.<ref name="uoqbvoaofy" /> With the election of [[Fernando Wood]], the first person to be supported by the Tammany Hall machine, as mayor in 1854, Tammany Hall would proceed to dominate the New York City political arena until [[Fiorello La Guardia]]'s mayoralty after the election of 1933.<ref name="uoqbvoaofy">{{Citation|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/tammany-hall.cfm|title=Tammany Hall|publisher=George Washington University|author=((The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project))|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219021908/http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/tammany-hall.cfm |archive-date=December 19, 2006 }}</ref>