Thomas Staples Martin; a study in Virginia politics 1883-1896

Tom Martin’s election to the Senate opened a new era in Virginia politics, the corporation-machine era. Thomas Staples Martin, the new “boss,” was to remain in the United States Senate for approximately twenty-four years, and during many of these years he was the controlling political influence in Virginia. Allied with corporation interests he was the political “czar” of his state. For an understanding of Martin and his relations to the machine he guided, and examination must be made into his background, his youth, and his early political associations.

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