Thomas Nast Takes on Boss Tweed | BRIdge from the Past: Art Across U.S. History

BRIdge from the Past: Art Across U.S. History is a new YouTube series for students that explores an important historic image every episode to gain insights into the culture, politics, and society of a particular time in U.S. history. Host Mary Patterson will explain how each primary source is its own “window to the past,” revealing new areas for contemplation and discussion.

Students will explore the vice of greed in civil society in this lesson on civic virtue. Students will examine “Boss” Tweed and his corrupt New York political machine, and how the vice of greed affected politics and civil society. They will read a historical narrative and review a discussion guide and contemporary political cartoons by Thomas Nast. Students will also analyze vice by examining its opposites, contribution and philanthropy.

This first in our new Homework Help Evidence of History series tells the story of William "Boss" Tweed. Tracing his rise to political power in post Civil War New York City, a metropolis whose population was booming from an influx of European immigrants, this video explores the question of whether Tweed was a hero, a villain, or something in between. Examine the evidence and decide for yourself.

Students can further explore the context surrounding the Jay Treaty in the George Washington and the Proclamation of Neutrality Decision Point, The Jay Treaty Narrative, and in the excerpt from the treaty itself in The Jay Treaty, 1795 Primary Source. The Alexander Hamilton and the National Bank Narrative and The National Bank Debate Lesson provide more context on the founding of the bank.