Rainbow's End Summary
Rainbow’s End, Still a Relevant Study?
Cartoons commonly depict political machines and their bosses as overweight business men, smoking cigars and making deals for profit and power. The “rainbow theory” of urban political machines proposes that “urban machines, though corrupt and undemocratic, actively worked to incorporate working-class immigrant groups such as the Irish, Jews, and Italians” (Erie 4). In Rainbow’s End, Stephen Erie argues that urban political machines “did not incorporate immigrants other than the Irish;” that they did not have an abundance of patronage available, which prevented it from being an effective means of economic advancement for the Irish (Erie 6). Political machines were no doubt an important part of American urban politics during the 19th and 20th centuries, but there are significant misconceptions about their policy that Erie points out. In the latter half of the 19th century, the newly formed machines were forced to become more economically conservative. They made alliances with the “Yankee middle class and business community” as they started to consolidate power (Erie 46). These new groups naturally would have different needs than the immigrant Irish working class. For example, they demanded cutbacks from municipal government spending and taxation (Erie 46-47). These demands …show more content…
He breaks down what were common misconceptions on the policy of urban political machines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Erie proves that a critical resource of urban machines, patronage, was not as abundant as was commonly thought. His detailed analysis provides a holistic overview of American urban political machines throughout their lifespan (at least until the 1980s, when the book was published). Not without its flaws, but it proves to be a reliable resource to further the study of Irish-Americans and their involvement with urban machine
Cartoons commonly depict political machines and their bosses as overweight business men, smoking cigars and making deals for profit and power. The “rainbow theory” of urban political machines proposes that “urban machines, though corrupt and undemocratic, actively worked to incorporate working-class immigrant groups such as the Irish, Jews, and Italians” (Erie 4). In Rainbow’s End, Stephen Erie argues that urban political machines “did not incorporate immigrants other than the Irish;” that they did not have an abundance of patronage available, which prevented it from being an effective means of economic advancement for the Irish (Erie 6). Political machines were no doubt an important part of American urban politics during the 19th and 20th centuries, but there are significant misconceptions about their policy that Erie points out. In the latter half of the 19th century, the newly formed machines were forced to become more economically conservative. They made alliances with the “Yankee middle class and business community” as they started to consolidate power (Erie 46). These new groups naturally would have different needs than the immigrant Irish working class. For example, they demanded cutbacks from municipal government spending and taxation (Erie 46-47). These demands …show more content…
He breaks down what were common misconceptions on the policy of urban political machines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Erie proves that a critical resource of urban machines, patronage, was not as abundant as was commonly thought. His detailed analysis provides a holistic overview of American urban political machines throughout their lifespan (at least until the 1980s, when the book was published). Not without its flaws, but it proves to be a reliable resource to further the study of Irish-Americans and their involvement with urban machine