Final answer:
Boss Tweed aimed to accumulate personal wealth and power by using his political influence through Tammany Hall to engage in corrupt practices such as graft and bribery. Option b is the answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Boss Tweed's primary motive for holding a large number of political offices in local and state governments was b) He aimed to accumulate personal wealth and power. Through the political machine known as Tammany Hall, Tweed and his associates used graft, bribery, and rigged elections to enrich themselves by extorting money from the city of New York. While there were public benefits to some of the projects funded by this extracted money, such as job creation and aiding immigrants, the methods of maintaining control and accumulating wealth were fundamentally corrupt.
The choice of Samuel J. Tilden by the Democrats to fight corruption and his prosecution of Tweed indicates the recognition of the problem at that time. Progressives later aimed to reform the government by attacking corruption and the patronage system, highlighting the difference between those who sought reform and figures like Tweed, whose actions were self-serving.