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In politics and government, a spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends , and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party.
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.
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 ...
The spoils system propagated like a pernicious weed. Leaders of the Whig Party denounced Democratic Party patronage, but practiced it themselves when they came to power in the 1840s, as did the ...
"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.
Patronage – Also known as the spoils system, patronage was the policy of placing political supporters into appointed offices. Many Jacksonians held the view that rotating political appointees in and out of office was not only the right, but also the duty of winners in political contests.
Spoils or The Spoils may refer to: Looting or "the spoils of war", rewards gained through military victory; Spoils system of distributing government jobs in US politics; The Spoils (card game), a collectible card game "The Spoils" , an episode of the television series Rome; The Spoils (U.S.S.A. album) The Spoils (Zola Jesus album)