The B oss's “ B rains”: Political Capital, D emocratic Commerce and the N ew Y ork T weed R ing, 1868–1871

Departing from P ierre B ourdieu's contention that capital takes on many forms beyond the economic, including a political form, this article examines how commodification patterned nineteenth century A merican politics. A case study of the T weed R ing, which briefly governed G ilded A ge N ew Y ork, is reevaluated as a speculative political bubble that produced empirically identifiable political profits. From an election sweep in 1868 to a bank run in 1871, W illiam T weed gained and lost political power and material wealth through management of what the editorial cartoonist T homas N ast hailed as the boss's “ B rains,” or democratic commerce, the market in political commodities.