Boss Tweed is the heavy-set man in the Thomas Nast cartoon. Nast is the father of the political cartoon. He was a Libra born on September 27, 1840.
“Those that cannot learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Sagittarius George Santayana
Where there are large pools of money, these must be regulated, for inevitably there will be the greed of the take. — This author
The “Gilded Age”
The “Gilded Age” is a period in American History from the 1870s to the 1890s. It was named after a Mark Twain (another Sagittarius) novel. Severe social problems were masked by a thin gold plating of economic expansion. Laissez faire capitalism led to corruption by robber barons and city officials.
New York City
The population of New York City was 942, 292 in 1870. Almost half, 419,094, were foreign born. A decade later the figure had risen to 1,206,299. (www.nyc.gov “Total and Foreign-Born Population New York City, 1790-2000”)
Roads were unpaved in the city. Horse manure covered the streets. Manhattan in 1900 had 130,000 horses. Epidemics—TB, typhus, cholera, diphtheria—were rampant in the slums. Dead animals were left to lay for weeks. (Wikipedia, “History of NYC 1855-1897”)
Sparked by a housing shortage for the poor, a magazine sponsored a design competition in 1879 with a twofold purpose: create more house and maximize landlord profits. The design was hampered by the required lot size of 25 by 100 feet. The winner was a dumbbell design. It had an air shaft running down the middle. Each building (dumbbell) was six stories and housed 300 people in 84 rooms. (livingcityarchive.org/htm/decades/1870.htm)
The air shaft became a kind of dumpster with much refuse thrown into it. Rubbish accumulated and rotted at the bottom. Water closets—there was only one for a family of four—stunk and were foul. (Ibid)
Societal problems were compounded by political corruption. Enter William M. (Maegar or Marcy) Tweed.
William M. Tweed
Boss Tweed, an Aries (DOB: April 3, 1823), began his work life as a bookkeeper and fireman. Entering politics as an alderman in New York City, he served a term in Congress and later was on the Board of Supervisors. After a while he had his cronies elected to other city and country posts. (Britannica, “Boss Tweed”) William dominated the state Democratic Party.
Tweed opened a law office in 1860 but was not a lawyer. He began receiving large payments from corporations for his “legal services”. These amounted to extortion.
In 1868 Tweed became leader of Tammany Hall and was elected to the New York State Senate. He and his cronies took full control of the city treasury in 1870 when they passed a new city charter that named them on the board of audit. (Biography: “Boss Tweed” by Tony Moore, updated August 13, 2019)
NYC was financially drained by fake leases, padded bills and false vouchers. Tweed was convicted of forgery and larceny in 1873. He escaped from custody, was recaptured and died in 1878. (Ibid)
Horoscope Analysis
Viewing the chart of William Tweed as a whole, we see the planets are clustered together generally within 120 d. in the bundle pattern. This shape can be opportunistic. It is noteworthy that only Jupiter, the planet of the higher mind, is outside the prescribed arc, and it is in the sign of its detriment, Gemini.
Other chart focal points are the two stelliums. One is in Aries. It includes the Sun, Mars, Pluto, and Chiron. The other is in Capricorn and contains the Moon, Uranus, and Neptune. There is much tension between the two.
These aspects are noteworthy: Sun conjunction Chiron– “Often big-hearted but values are not deeply rooted. May have used manipulation or blackmail of others.” (“Sun Conjunction Chiron” by Ryan Hart) Sun together with Mars– a risktaker, probably exacerbated his dishonesty. Sun square Moon*– An indicator of a personality disorder. There are also squares of Neptune to Sun and Mars, the Sun’s ruler. Psychological confusion is indicated. Tweed might have been drawn to the negative. The notion of a personality disorder is buttressed. Sun square Uranus– Tweed did not want to follow laws or rules. William’s Moon conjunct Uranus—a hatred of convention and conformity—provided no relief.
Shallow thinking and valuing form over substance helped get William Tweed in trouble. He had wrong notions in his head. Mercury was in hazy Pisces and unaspected.
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Postscript
The Supreme Court on 28 June 2024 in a 6-3 decision weakened the power of federal administrative agencies to enforce regulations. Conservative justices overturned a 40-year precedent.
In another decision by the same margin, the court found that the homeless could be arrested and fined for sleeping in public places. Homeless camps are banned. A dissenting justice said people were being penalized for sleeping, a normal biological function.
As this article alludes to, a system without regulation will certainly be prone to malfeasance.
*An aspect should never be considered in isolation. Thousands of people are born on the same day, month and year. Most would not have a personality disorder given that alone. A natal chart gives a range of possibilities through interaction with family and environment.