CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Title: Introduction

to the Industrial Political Bosses Date: 10/18/18
Revolution
What influences did political bosses have on neighborhoods?
Unit Essential
Were political bosses created by the power vacuum left by the
Question(s):
government? If so, how?

Was the Industrial Revolution good for the common man? Why or
why not?

Subject / Course: US History

Grade Level: 11

Lesson Duration: 2 55-Minute Days

Content Learning Objective (must include content, learning skill and student product):

Students will be able to analyze the usefulness and impact of political bosses had on immigrants
arriving in the United States and decide if they were beneficial for society by completing a
background reading and answering questions.

Historical Thinking Skill and/or Historical Reading Skill Focus

This lesson will focus on change and continuity and discussing the ethical dimension of the
political bosses.

California HSS Content Standard(s) and CA Common Core Standard(s) Addressed:

11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, largescale rural-to-
urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
4. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and
middle-class reformers.

Narrative Summary of Tasks / Actions:

1. Examine three political cartoons

2. Read background info paragraph by paragraph annotating as class and answering
questions
3. After completing question 3 students will work independently to answer question 4.
4. Boss tweed video
5. Students write down facts. After video they get up and walk around the room getting
facts from other students.
6. Idea wheel

Materials / Equipment Needed:

Items needed for projection and video. Copies of political cartoons. Copies of Political bosses
background. Students need notebooks.

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 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Inquiry-Based Lesson Plan for History-Social Science

1. Lesson Central Historical Question (C.H.Q.) Time:

Were political bosses good for the neighborhood they monitored?

2. Anticipatory Set:
How will students be engaged, moved “into” the activity or what will your Time: 10
“hook” be?
Students will examine three political cartoons from the modern era they can relate to. The first
will be done as a class. The second will be done in pairs. The third will be done independently.
This will prepare them for tomorrow’s lesson.

3. Teacher Input and/or Modeling:

Time: 15
How will the teacher support the student inquiry and investigation?
The teacher input will come in the form of scaffolding. It beings with the warm-up activity.
Doing the work as a class, then pairs, the alone ensures that students understand the goal of the
exercise and give them an opportunity to share ideas before brining their own ideas to the class.
Next, teacher input will occur when examining the background information in the document. We
will read the first three sections as class to scaffold student learning further. Question 4 gives
them the opportunity to practice the skills that had been previously scaffolded.

4. Student Activity and Investigation (w/relevant differentiation):

Time: 20
How will students move “through” the activity or practice their learning?
The main student activity will come in the form of a document read and questions. The
document will have 4 questions, a summary, and a space for facts from the video and facts from
other students.
As a group we will do questions 1-3 and do the reading together. Primarily we will be doing the
annotations together. Students will be on their own for questions 4, the video facts, and the final
summary.

5. Lesson Closure (w/relevant differentiation):

How will the teacher measure student understanding? How will the Time: 5
student product reflect the skills and content of the particular lesson?
Student understanding will be measured in reading their final summaries on political bosses and
the interactions they complete within their notebook. The students product will reflect the skills
and content by actively having the students engage with that content and skills. Students will
need grapple with the ethical dimension of political bosses. To do so, they must first understand
what a political boss is and there job as a whole.

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 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

6. Student Reflection/Metacognition:
Will there be opportunities for students to reflect and improve on their Time: 5
learning?
Student reflection should be growing throughout this lesson. The scaffolding that is present
within the lesson is meant to give students confidence in their responses or guide the students to
the types of responses that are appropriate.

Further reflection will come at the end of the lesson when students are determining if political
bosses were a good or bad thing and will come when students are doing interactions for this
lesson.

Political Machines
Background

Directions: Read the information below. As you read, complete the items on Reading Processing
Immigration and Migration
During the last half of the nineteenth century millions of people moved to America’s cities.
Immigrants from Europe, farmers, and African Americans from the south moved to cities. The
growth of cities such as New York and Chicago led to new challenges for city governments as
new demands were placed on city services such as fire, police, sewage, transportation, and
water. In order to expand services, cities increased taxes and set up new offices to provide help. In
this context, political machines arose.
1. What factors led to the rise of political machines?

Control of Party Politics

Political machines were groups that were designed to keep a particular political party or group of
people in power. Political machines controlled the activities of a political party in a city and
offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support. In the
decades after the Civil War, political machines gained control of local governments in New York,
Chicago, Boston and other major cities.
2. Define political machines (in your own words). Use 7 words or less.

Organization of Political Machines

Political machines were organized like a four level pyramid. At the bottom were local precinct
workers. Precinct workers reported to captains, who tried to gain voters' support on a city block
or in a neighborhood and who reported to a ward boss. At the top of the pyramid was the city
boss. At election time, the ward boss worked to secure the vote in all the precincts in the ward,
or electoral district.
3. Create a chart representing the pyramid of political machines. Label the parts

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 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Ward bosses helped the poor and gained their votes by doing favors or providing services such
as food, clothing, and temporary housing when needed. They helped immigrants to gain
citizenship. They also used their power to expand public-works projects such as building
bridges, parks, and waterworks. Many of the jobs for the public-works projects were distributed
by members of the political machine to their supporters.
Services Provided and Political Corruption
Many precinct captains and political bosses were first-generation or second-generation immigrants.
They could speak to immigrants in their own language and understood the challenges that
newcomers faced. Political machines provided immigrants with support that city governments and
private businesses did not provide. In return, the immigrants provided
the votes political bosses needed.

Political machines could be greedy and vindictive (seeking revenge against disloyal voters)
and often stole millions from the taxpayers in the form of graft (gaining money or power
through illegal or dishonest means). In New York City, an estimated 65 percent of public
funds in the 1860s ended up in the pockets of Boss Tweed (the political boss of the
machine called Tammany Hall) and his cronies, as they padded bills for construction
projects and projects with fake expenses. Historians estimate that the Tweed Ring collected
million dollars in graft between 1865 and 1871.

Political machines also were involved in voting fraud. Stories abound of instances where
individuals voted more than once in elections through the support of political machines. In one
election in Philadelphia, a district with less than 100 registered voters returned 252 votes. Due to
obvious corruption and election fraud some citizens began to demand reform or improvements to
the political system in their city and state.
4. What were the positives and negatives of political machines? List the items.
Positives:

Negatives:

Give One Get One

Political Machines and Boss Tweed
Video
My Important Facts My Colleagues Important Facts

1 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

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 CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

5. 5.

6. 6.

Were Political Machines Corrupt or Good for Society?