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Thereafter the spoils system was largely replaced by nonpartisan merit at the federal level of the United States. The term was derived from the phrase " to the victor belong the spoils " by New York Senator William L. Marcy , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] referring to the victory of Andrew Jackson in the election of 1828 , with the term "spoils" meaning goods or ...
Proponents of the spoils system were successful at blocking meaningful civil service reform until the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881. The 47th Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act during its lame duck session and President Chester A. Arthur, himself a former spoilsman, signed the bill into law.
At first it covered very few jobs but there was a ratchet provision whereby outgoing presidents could lock in their own appointees by converting their jobs to civil service. Political reformers, typified by the Mugwumps demanded an end to the spoils system. After a series of party reversals at the presidential level (in 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896 ...
"To the victor belong the spoils." For decades in the 1800s, that phrase was more than a slogan; it was the official hiring policy of the U.S. government. "You win the election, you're entitled to ...
He instituted the spoils system for federal government positions, using his patronage powers to build a powerful and united Democratic Party. In response to the nullification crisis , Jackson threatened to send federal soldiers into South Carolina, but the crisis was defused by the passage of the Tariff of 1833 .
The spoils system meant that jobs were used to support the American political parties. This was gradually changed by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 and subsequent laws. By 1909, almost two-thirds of the U.S. federal workforce was appointed based on merit, that is, qualifications measured by tests.
FELLER: The rise of the spoils system during and after Jackson’s presidency – it wasn’t all Jackson’s doing – was attendant upon the rise of political partisanship in the United States.
The trouble started in the 1820s when Andrew Jackson rebelled against the political establishment. ... corruption is likely to follow, as it did in the 19th century. If a new spoils system becomes ...