Semester Writing Assignment

Develop this topic into a well-organized essay, following the guidelines below. Correct spelling and grammar will be considered during grading. Part of your grade will depend upon including the required block quotes. Be sure to answer all parts of the question.

Students will generally compose the essay inside their word processor and then COPY and PASTE (using CONTROL V) the text into the space provided below. The essay should be a minimum of three double-spaced pages long.

IMPORTANT! Be sure to SAVE your answer before SUBMITTING it. If you do not SAVE it, it will show up “blank,” with no text. Papers submitted by email or papers submitted after the deadline will lose 15 points.

Finally, DO NOT copy material from another student or online source and paste it into this essay response box, representing it as your own work. Doing this will get you a grade of 0, and it is not difficult for instructors to detect. Do not even use any source other than the Honest Graft monograph to complete this assignment.

Honest Graft

Relying only on material from the Honest Graft monograph, thoroughly answer the following questions:

Section 1: In the book HONEST GRAFT, George Washington Plunkitt says there’s a difference between honest graft and dishonest graft. What is this difference? Give specific examples of each. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

Section 2: What is George Washington Plunkitt’s position on drinking? How does he substantiate his opinion of liquor and politics?

Section 3: What role does Plunkitt see for political party bosses to play within the Democratic Party? Why does he feel that way?

Section 4: Plunkitt and his crowd claimed to be patriotic. Do you think they really were? Why or why not? Explain.

Section 5: Why weren’t reformers able to “clean up” government and politics in the mid- to late-1800’s?

***Include at least three direct quotes from Honest Graft to support your position.Be sure to cite these quotations in parentheses and in all caps. For example, your citation might look like this:

“The fact is that a reformer can’t last in politics.” (RIORDIN, P. 71), or if you use the online version, your citation will look like this: (RIORDIN, Chapter 4), since there are no page numbers on the online version.

NOTE: If you do not include the 3 direct quotations from the book, you will lose 10 points from your score.