English 1: How serious was Plunkitt about patriotism’s connection to obtaining a job after Tammany won an election?

George Washington Plunkitt, the famous politician, believed that there was a link between the obtainment of a job and one’s patriotism. He believed that having to work very hard to make a living could take a man’s patriotism from him. The most emphasized topic in the first half of the book is Plunkitt’s hatred of civil service reform. Civil service reform was a movement started shortly after the civil war. Its purpose was to fill lower level public jobs with educated professionals, rather than an elected party’s followers. Plunkitt’s stated reason for his disapproval of civil service reform was that it limited young men who wanted to serve their city from doing so by doing an exam. Therefore, when these young men who lacked higher education could not pass the tests and their patriotism rapidly went from something to nothing.

However, another reason Plunkitt hated civil service reform was because it limited the number of jobs he could hand out and therefore it limited his power with the voters. Plunkitt undoubtedly felt that a young man should be given a job, after the party he supported an election, and this was important for the young man’s patriotism. It seems more likely that he despised civil service reform because it limited his and his party’s power.

Plunkitt seriously believed that a young man should get a job after his party won an election. And if the young man did not get rewarded, then it was detrimental to the young man’s patriotism. But this belief, most likely was not a primary motivation for him.

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