Gentlemen Reformers in the Quaker City, 1870-1912
Philadelphia's municipal affairs in the Gilded Age, like those of many American cities, were mired in corruption. Election frauds, graft, and political jobbery were the order of the day. A succession of artful political leaders-J. Donald Cameron, James McManes, Matthew Quay, and Israel Durham were the most illustrious-ran the city in the interest of the Republican party and its financial backers. Although Philadelphians were characterized by Lincoln Steffens as contented with this corruption, in the late nineteenth century a modest band of genteel reformers in their midst mounted earnest campaigns to enthrone integrity at City Hall. Conspicuous among these reformers-derisively labeled "Mugwumps"-were members of the Society of Friends. The operations of boss rule clearly violated standards basic to the Quaker ethos. Some Friends were anxious to destroy the bosses' hold upon the municipal government. This impulse for political action would have borne more fruit had it not been for two significant inhibiting factors grounded in Quaker experience. The first of these was the Friends' tradition of avoiding active participation in politics; the second was their attachment to the Republican party. Unable to resolve the dilemmas posed by these traditions, the Quakers proved hesitant and ineffectual as political reformers and thereby contributed to the failure of the Mugwump movement in Philadelphia.