Value Of Patronage

President Chester Arthur issued these rules [1881]: "First: No person in civil service shall use his office, his official authority or influence, either to coerce the political action of any person or body to interfere with any election. Second: No person in the public service shall for that reason be under any obligation to contribute to any political fund or render any political service, and he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so."

President Jackson further strengthened the executive branch by utilizing the spoils system, a system in which a president rewards political supporters with public office. Instead of selecting individuals who were truly qualified for the job, Jackson elected his loyal, democratic followers, claiming the reason for the new appointments was to end entrenchment and transfer the power to the people. In reality, by selecting supporters, Jackson would have the ability to easily control the government. His appointment of Roger B. Taney to be Secretary of Treasury was done with the sole purpose to kill the second Bank of the United States. The bank favored the elite, and by killing it, Jackson hoped he would win over the country’s common man.

The first theme of this book is Plunkitt’s use of patronage. He openly discusses quid pro quo: he gives people jobs, opportunities, and welfare services in exchange for their political allegiance. For example, he talks about giving young men opportunities to play in the baseball club or sing in the glee club. In exchange, they vote the way he tells them to. Plunkitt also supports his voters in other

Reduction Of Hiring Costs Hiring a civil service employee involves recruiting, testing, interviewing, and selecting a candidate or candidates for given positions. This process is an exhaustive one, which can last for weeks and months, from the initial recruitment to the final selection of a candidate to the position. This long process can amount to thousands of dollars in expenditures. The costs incurred by these steps in the hiring process result from compensation of staff for thousands of additional hours associated with

Jackson was the first president to arrange of presidential cabinet that was made of his personal friends and supporters. Known as the “Kitchen Cabinet” this was frowned upon by his opposers but Jackson believed that the presidency would be more productive if it was made up of the people he trusted. Jackson kicked out Republican Officials in order to put supporters in those roles. Jackson believed this would open up positions, so more people could serve in the government therefore ending lifetime official terms. This is known as the Spoils System, as the winning party gets to fire and appoint officials in federal jobs. These actions redefined how the newly elected President could control the office, and these are still used up to present day. Jackson set the standards for handling the role of President and increased the productivity of the executive

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.

Voters are often rewarded with patronage jobs. However, patronage can result in poorer service to the

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.

Adams made, Jackson was furious, claiming that the election had been stolen from the people. Except, the “spoils system” was also created during Andrew Jackson’s time as president. Using this system, Jackson replaced all of the previous government officials with his own supporters. In the corrupt bargain, Adams made Henry Clay his secretary of state after Clay convinced the House of Representatives to elect Adams as president. Basically, the spoils system and the corrupt bargain were the same thing. Because of the people that Jackson put in office with the spoils system, it also allowed him to make more decisions, because they were all supporters of his ideas. So, there was less resistance when he decided something because there were fewer opinions on

Unfortunately, the Republican party wished for their own party to win the office. Though the Southern people may have wanted a Democrat in office, the Democratic party had its eyes set upon “Home Rule”. They could finally have members of their own party governing their own states unlike during reconstruction when Republicans were put in office in Southern states. In order for the Republicans to obtain the presidency, the Republicans and Democrats had to agree to a compromise that would satisfy both parties along with helping the Democrats out of their governmental and economic slump. The presidency was given to Rutherford B. Hayes, and the Republican party once again had control of the government. Some Democrats tried to pull Hayes out of office by criminally charging him with fraudulently winning the election. Regrettably, this did not go as planned and only unified the Republican party which stood firmly behind Hayes. Though Hayes was a Republican, his policies sometimes opposed the Republican party. Hayes saw that the United States government had been corrupted by patronage which had been used by state and federal lawmakers to keep themselves in office in return for different favors to cities or companies. When President Hayes confronted this issue saying, “Now for civil service reform. We must limit and narrow the area of patronage”, most politicians of the Republican party opposed him. Calling for civil service reform to take the place of patronage would mean, politicians and lawmakers would be chosen by how they performed in politics rather than being chosen because they knew a politician who could give them the opportunity to come into politics. Although civil service reform was not enacted during the Hayes administration, only two presidents later Chester Arthur, a man whom Hayes had dismissed from office due

Influenced by the Progressive Movement and the belief that the federal government’s intervention was required to alleviate injustices in a dark society of corruption where a war between capital and labor raged, President Roosevelt signed Attorney General Charles Bonaparte an unnamed squad of special agents. The squad grew slowly, with its agents poorly trained, mismanaged, undisciplined, and mainly experienced in accounting and the civil rights fields. This

Hi, I am Chester Author, used to be Vice President of President Garfield. I am now becoming President after Garfield was assassinated. When I was Vice President, I was with Stalwarts, who wanted the Patronage system. I was totally against the Civil Service, the permanent professional branches of a government’s administration, excluding military and judicial branches and elect politicians; select people on Merit rather than relationships. To get another term as president, I would have to switch to wanting the Civil Service, because that is what the public favored. The people did not want the Patronage System, which was the power to control appointments to office or rights to privileges; knowing people who know people. My decision will be wanting

Patronage, or The Spoils System, is the system in which government positions are handed out to supporters that helped the candidate get elected. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “Patronage is the power to control appointments to office or the right to privileges.” Most of the Presidents that were elected in the late 1800s should not have been elected because they didn’t win the popular vote. Instead, they were put

"Nepotism is defined as favoritism shown by somebody in power to relatives and friends, especially in appointing them to good positions." Regardless of the capability and capacity to work in the workplace, officials preferably appoints or promotes their relatives in good positions instead of appointing or promoting non-related members that

The Civil Service Act of 1883 created the merit system by requiring that appointees to public office be qualified for the job, thereby ending the spoils system.