Spoils system
Spoils system
In the politics of the United States, a spoil system (also
known as a patronage system) is a practice where a
political party, after winning an election, gives
government jobs to its voters as a reward for working
toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for
the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices
are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit,
independent of political activity.
The term was derived from the phrase "to the spoils of
the enemy" by New York Senator William L.
Marcy,[1][2][3] referring to the victory of the Jackson
Democrats in the election of 1828.
Similar spoils systems are common in other nations that
traditionally have been based on tribal organization or
other kinship groups and localism in general.
Peak and reform
Before March 8, 1831, moderation had prevailed in the
transfer of political power from one presidency to
another. President Andrew Jackson's inauguration
signaled a sharp departure from past presidencies. An
In memoriam--our civil service as it was, a political cartoon by
unruly mob of office seekers made something of a
Thomas Nast showing statue of Andrew Jackson on pig, which is
shambles of the March inauguration, and though some
over "fraud," "bribery," and "spoils," eating "plunder." in Harper's
tried to explain this as democratic enthusiasm, the real
Weekly, 1877 April 28, p. 325.
truth was Jackson supporters had been lavished with
promises of positions in return for political support. These promises were honored by an astonishing number of
removals after Jackson assumed power. Fully 919 officials were removed from government positions, amounting to
nearly 10 percent of all government postings.[4]:328-33
The Jackson administration attempted to explain this unprecedented purge as reform, or constructive turnover, but in
the months following the changes it became obvious that the sole criterion for the extensive turnover was political
loyalty to Andrew Jackson. The hardest hit organization within the federal government proved to be the post office.
The post office was the largest department in the federal government, and had even more personnel than the war
department. In one year 423 postmasters were deprived of their positions, most with extensive records of good
service. The new emphasis on loyalty rather than competence would have a long term negative effect on the
efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government.[4] :334
President after president continued to use the spoils system to encourage others to vote for them. But by the late
1860s, citizens began demanding civil service reform. Running under the Liberal Republican Party in 1872, they
were soundly defeated by Ulysses S. Grant.
After the assassination of James A. Garfield by a rejected office-seeker in 1881, the calls for civil service reform
intensified. Moderation of the spoils system at the federal level came with the passage of the Pendleton Act in 1883,
which created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to evaluate job candidates on a nonpartisan merit basis. While
few jobs were covered under the law initially, the law allowed the President to transfer jobs and their current holders
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Spoils system
into the system, thus giving the holder a permanent job. The Pendleton Act's reach was expanded as the two main
political parties alternated control of the White House every election between 1884 and 1896. After each election the
outgoing President applied the Pendleton Act to jobs held by his political supporters. By 1900, most federal jobs
were handled through civil service and the spoils system was limited only to very senior positions.
The separation between the political activity and the civil service was made stronger with the Hatch Act of 1939
which prohibited federal employees from engaging in many political activities.
The spoils system survived much longer in many states, counties and municipalities, such as the Tammany Hall ring,
which survived well into the 1930s when New York City reformed its own civil service. Illinois modernized its
bureaucracy in 1917 under Frank Lowden, but Chicago held on to patronage in city government until the city agreed
to end the practice in the Shakman Decrees of 1972 and 1983. Modern variations on the spoils system are often
described as the political machine.
References
[1] "Andrew Jackson | The White House" (http:/ / www. whitehouse. gov/ about/ presidents/ andrewjackson/ ). Whitehouse.gov. . Retrieved
2010-09-05.
[2] "Re: To the victor belong the after spoils" (http:/ / www. phrases. org. uk/ bulletin_board/ 32/ messages/ 793. html). Phrases.org.uk. .
Retrieved 2010-09-05.
[3] "1314. Marcy William Learned (1786-1857). Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989" (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 73/ 1314.
html). Bartleby.com. . Retrieved 2010-09-05.
[4] Howe, Daniel W. (2007). What hath God Wrought, The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Oxford University Press, Inc..
ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7.
• Griffith; Ernest S. The Modern Development of the City in the United Kingdom and the United States (1927)
• Hoogenboom, Ari Arthur. Outlawing the Spoils: A history of the civil service reform movement, 1865-1883
(1961)
• Ostrogorski; M. Democracy and the Party System in the United States (1910)
• Rubio; Philip F. A History of Affirmative Action, 1619-2000 University Press of Mississippi (2001)
• Van Riper, Paul. History of the United States Civil Service Greenwood Press (1976; reprint of 1958 edition)
External links
•
"Civil Service Reform". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
•
"Civil-Service Reform". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• Fish, Carl Russell (1905). The Civil Service and the Patronage (http://www.archive.org/details/
civilservicepatr00fishrich). New York.
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