THE SPOILS SYSTEM

The term spoils system is used to describe the process in which the party in power, perhaps through winning an election, monopolizes perquisites and political appointments. In the United States, the spoils system was the process of appointing officials to the government of the United States based on political connections rather than on impersonal measures of merit. The name was derived from the phrase "to the victor go the spoils."

While many people believe that the spoils system in America began with President Andrew Jackson after the 1828 election, it actually started with the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Jefferson, a Republican, replaced many federal employees from the cabinet on down that had belonged to or supported the Federalist party as it had emerged during George Washington’s second term and the term of John Adams. Since the federal bureaucracy was small at the time, this initial application of the spoils system in American history has gone unnoticed.

However, the spoils system became a major feature of the American political system under President Andrew Jackson, who introduced it as a democratic measure. He considered that popular election gave the victorious party a mandate to select officials from its own ranks. The spoils system was closely linked to the new party system he helped to create in the 1820s and 1830s. Proponents claimed that ordinary Americans, not just a special civil service elite, were capable of discharging the official duties of government offices. Opponents considered it vulnerable to incompetence and corruption. When all was said and done, Jackson replaced less than 15% of the federal bureaucracy with his followers. In general, the patronage of the Jacksonians was handled by Jackson’s Secretary of State Martin van Buren. Van Buren would later serve as Jackson’s second Vice President and was elected president in 1836.

The spoils system continued to be used in American politics as payment for political support. When President Abraham Lincoln was overwhelmed by office seekers he once quipped that there were “too many pigs and not enough tits.” When he was president, U.S. Grant used the spoils system, which resulted in corruption and political crime. In 1881, President James Garfield was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker.

The system was formally ended in 1883 with the passage of the Pendleton Act that created the US Civil Service. The government would continue to be formed by the party of the winner of the Presidential election, but the civil service was separated and appointment to it was based on merit and not tied to any particular party or politician. Today, most government officials are professional government employees who received their jobs by merit and not political ties.

History’s currents or current history? You decide!