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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—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded or promoted on the basis of some ...
Drafted and signed in the Chester A. Arthur administration, the Pendleton Act served as a response to President James Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker. [13] The Act was passed into law in January 1883; it was sponsored by Democratic senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio.
Patronage became a key issue in elections, as many partisans in both major parties were more concerned about control over political appointments than they were about policy issues. [ 1 ] During the Civil War, Senator Charles Sumner introduced the first major civil service reform bill, calling for the use of competitive exams to determine ...
This highlighted how much the patronage problem had gotten out of control, and shifted public opinion against the patronage system. [citation needed] Congress was eventually spurred to pass the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which created a Civil Service Commission and advocated a merit system for selecting government employees. [20]
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) reformed the civil service of the United States federal government, partly in response to the Watergate scandal (1972-74). The Act abolished the U.S. Civil Service Commission and distributed its functions primarily among three new agencies: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor ...
The Civil Service Commission, in addition to reducing patronage, also alleviated the burdensome task of the President of the United States in appointing federal office seekers. Under the Commission Model, policy making and administrative powers were given to semi-independent commission rather than to the president.
Public sector unions came under heavy attack especially in Wisconsin, as well as Indiana, New Jersey and Ohio from conservative Republican legislatures. [ 16 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Conservative state legislatures tried to drastically reduce the abilities of unions to collectively bargain.
In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit. This was an early form of the imperial examinations, transitioning from inheritance and patronage to merit, in which local officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the Confucian classics. [5]