<Tr> <Th> Key people </Th> <Td> William M. Tweed, Fernando Wood, Richard Croker, Lewis Nixon, Carmine DeSapio </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Affiliations </Th> <Td> Democratic Party </Td> </Tr> <P> Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society . It was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City and New York State politics and helping immigrants, most notably the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s . It typically controlled Democratic Party nominations and political patronage in Manhattan from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 and used its patronage resources to build a loyal, well - rewarded core of district and precinct leaders; after 1850 the great majority were Irish Catholics . </P> <P> The Tammany Society emerged as the center for Democratic - Republican Party politics in the city in the early 19th century . After 1854, the Society expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's rapidly expanding immigrant community, which functioned as its base of political capital . The business community appreciated its readiness, at moderate cost, to cut through red tape and legislative mazes to facilitate rapid economic growth . The Tammany Hall ward boss or ward heeler--"wards" were the city's smallest political units from 1786 to 1938--served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage . By 1872 Tammany had an Irish Catholic "boss," and in 1928 a Tammany hero, New York Governor Al Smith, won the Democratic presidential nomination . However, Tammany Hall also served as an engine for graft and political corruption, perhaps most infamously under William M. "Boss" Tweed in the mid-19th century . By the 1880s, Tammany was building local clubs that appealed to social activists from the ethnic middle class . In quiet times the machine had the advantage of a core of solid supporters and usually exercised control of politics and policymaking in Manhattan; it also played a major role in the state legislature in Albany . </P>

Which group supported political machines like tammany hall