The Power Of Patronage Or The Spoils System

Overall governmental corruption ran rampant. Under President Ulysses S. Grant, a few scandals occurred. One of which had overcharging the public for railroad costs, involving Credit Mobilier, which was comprised mostly of wealthy politicians. They took off some of the taxpayer’s fund for themselves. This was also when the public found out that Republican lawmakers in Congress, including the Speaker of the House were being bribed.

He wanted to grow in the west and took more control. He favored the practice of patronage (when newly elected officials had given government jobs to friends), although practiced prior he removed more office holders than any other president. He believed citizens should fear the national government (he believed too many politicians have become corrupt and are trying to take away the people's natural laws and he also put into effect the Indian Removal Act.

Furthermore, Jackson’s presidency was characterized by use of the spoils system and the systematic rotation of officeholders. These stipulated that federal jobs were strictly given to loyal Democrats and that federal offices could be held for only one term. While these practices were meant to emphasize equal political opportunities and build party loyalty, they inherently promoted government corruption. In fact, the power that Jackson wielded by trading federal positions for party loyalty both overextended his executive power and practiced the same corrupt bargaining of office that the Democrats accused John Quincy Adams of in the election of 1824. Thus, the Jacksonian democrats dealt clear detriments and hypocrisies to the system of popular democracy that they so strongly advocated, despite their encouragement of universal white male suffrage and participation in office.

Political power back then was very unevenly distributed and arguments happened quite frequently. But thanks to political parties, political disputes are easier to settle, because power is evenly distributed. Opinions led to wars but Jefferson and Madison actually hated each other. both had different opinions on things, such as the federal banking system. One said it did not matter and the other thought it was completely relevant.

Specifically, as Jackson started his first term presidency, the method of electing presidential electors overturned to the people instead of the legislature as revealed in Document A. The process of allowing the people to choose electors were nearly complete by the time Jackson was elected president in 1828. Andrew Jackson might have not caused this change, but he definitely benefited by it. Furthermore, Jackson approved with “the idea that all offices - whether appointed or elected - must ultimately fall under the absolute control of the people” (Remini 1984). Jackson insisted that all offices from the appointed or elected should be under the control of the people’s rule. Andrew Jackson agreed that the people had the power to elect or appoint officers instead of the legislature or the college elector. However, that is not the case through his presidency since he is mostly known as a dictator for not evenly hearing each person’s voice. He supported everyone’s choice and ideas except from the minorities that he excluded from the democratic government. Jackson’s encounters with the Native Americans and the facts with his slaveholders made him seem

In the early 1800s, the United States of America was still an infant country trying to figure out the best way to run its government. The Founding Fathers did not want to form a monarchy like in Great Britain, so they wanted to form some form of representative government. There were two main theories of how representative government should be run: democracy and republicanism. Democracy is the direct government by the people, where the citizens of the country vote directly for the government officials, who should be common people, no matter how esteemed the office. Republicanism is a more controlled form of democracy, where the citizens vote for representatives who then vote for the more esteemed positions in the government, such as the President

The spoils system, known also as the patronage system is the rotation of officers in government. Document I describes a case where Andrew Jackson decides to appoint Samuel Swartwout as the collector of the port of New York. Swartwout was known to have criminal tendencies, however, Jackson refused to listen to the warnings and appointed him anyways. “He liked Swartwout because he had been an early supporter, unlike Van Buren, and so he went ahead with the appointment. In time, Swartwout absconded with $1,222,705.09...Jackson was mortified.” According to the definition of democracy, the power is vested in the people and the common people are considered as the primary source of political power. Here, Andrew Jackson is abusing his presidential powers by choosing his supporters and undercutting the smooth running of the government. The rotation in office has been just a political device Jackson use to get his supporters a role in government. Andrew Jackson did not give Americans the chance to participate in

At first the American system was put in place to help the infrastructure throughout the states. It helped to build roads as well as many other projects and this was due to a tariff put into effect that benefited funding of these projects. Jackson supported the tariff on national grounds but saw them as vehicles for corruption and ended up vetoing the American system and stopped the bank.

When the system of government was finally decided on, our founding fathers understood the importance of the balance of power within the three branches of the government. They called this system checks and balances. This system was set up to ensure that the government would remain loyal to the people and loyal to their states (Hamilton). In The Federalist Papers, No. 68, Alexander Hamilton discusses the importance of having the president elected by the Electoral College. He said that in order to ensure that we do not end up with the same problems that America had with the monarch of England, it was important that the balance of power was spread throughout the government and that no one portion have too much power.

When Jackson was elected president he introduced the spoils system, which took away the jobs of highly trained federal men. These men were the most educated to hold office, but with the new system they were replaced with political supporters as a payment for supporting Jackson. He had a belief that if the same people stayed in the position, they would have more power. Removing the people from their position was not the best option, and showed that Jackson simply wanted to make the people happy, but was not doing what was best for the country. The majority of the men were uneducated common people. In the political cartoon, Office Hunters For The Year 1834, it shows that Jackson had complete control of the members of the kitchen,since they were his friends and would often obey him. Having all the control in the White House and control over the members of

The selection of officials of Jackson was in many cases the return of a financial grant during campaigning. The consideration of the ability to govern, have intelligence and responsibility etc. were ignored in the wake of compensation. Although opposites alike were granted power they were not always for the continuance of democracy.

He believed that the spoil system, or rotating office holders often was important. He fired everyone currently working at the white house, and he replaced them with people that were actively campaigning for the democratic

If we were listening in on the conversation going on at the table we would be able to see that there were three predominant theories on how the president should be elected. The first idea was for Congress to choose the president by voting on the candidates they saw fit. (Hendricks) The main problem with this idea was the tilt of power towards the legislative branch. If the legislative branch was given this express power of ushering in the executive not only would it tilt the balance of power towards the legislative but it would also open the door wide to corruption and bargaining. The second option on the table was the election of the president of the United States by the state legislatures (much like the Senators were first elected). (Hendricks) The biggest fear behind this idea was the possibility of an executive that was too intertwined with the state, an executive who slowly worked with the state and helped them erode the power of the central government. This would undermine the whole idea of the republic that the founding fathers were trying to build and thus was an idea that was quickly disregarded. The third and final proposal was the direct election of the president by the people, or now more famously known as the popular or national vote. (Smith) The biggest problem behind this proposition is the likeliness of the electorate to vote for a “favorite son” or a figure that they identify with personally rather than politically and

in the process of choosing a President for the United States. If a President was chosen through

giving to them by the people. Not knowing what a person is about a chosen just on appearances and smarts is a big misconception of American people. You should always study a person past to find if they abuse power because it might always hurt you in the long run. Later in his essay Machiavelli states, “Such were the beginning and cause of disorders, conspiracies, and plots against the sovereigns, set on foot, not by the feeble and timid, but by those citizens who, surpassing the others in grandeur of soul,