US History - Constructed Response

"What tells in holdin' your grip on your district is to go right down among the poor families and help them in the different ways they need help. ...If a family is burned out I don't ask whether they are Republicans or Democrats... I just get quarters for them, buy clothes for them... and fix them up till they get things runnin' again. It's philanthropy, but it's politics, too—mighty good politics. Who can tell how many votes one of these fires bring me? ...the poor look up to George W. Plunkitt as a father... and don't forget him on election day."

"There was a time in Wisconsin when the boss and representatives of the railroads nominated the candidates for both parties. How? By intervening between the voter and the nomination and 'getting' the delegates. You remember how it was done; railroad passes, entertainment, money, influence. ...La Follette secured the anti-pass law and thus did away with the common and wholesale bribery of public officials....La Follette secured the primary election law. Under the primary law you vote direct for your choice, your vote is your own."

• 1888/1889: Louisville, KY and Massachusetts adopt the secret ballot
• 1898: South Dakota adopts the initiative and referendum
• 1903: Los Angeles adopts recall elections
• 1913: Congress ratifies the Seventeenth Amendment (Direct election of Senators)