Spoils system

The term Spoils system referred to in the U.S. policy in practice that the winner of an election his supporters with jobs rewarded in public administration. The spoils system is also an incentive for supporters to continue working for the party of the election winner. The term derives from Senator William L. Marcy's saying " to the victor belong the spoils " from, in German as " the victor belong the spoils ."

The spoils system stands in stark contrast to the concept of meritocracy, where the filling of vacancies will be awarded only after performance and capability, but regardless of political affiliation. The spoils system is justified as long as the office is a political and mainly its exercise must follow the will of voters (eg a Minister of Agriculture, which is to achieve good economic conditions for farmers ). If a post requires specialist expertise, the spoils system harmful.

The situation at the federal level: since 1952, ie since the Eisenhower administration, called respectively after the presidential elections, the usual " Plum Book" Manual United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions is published. It is a listing of those agencies whose incumbents are appointed by the President.

In Germany, this procedure is roughly equivalent to that of the concept of political officials. These are in Germany those prominent leadership roles (eg, secretaries of state, head of department in government departments, police chiefs, generals ), the owner can be moved without notice for any reason ( usually after a change of political leadership ) in the injunction retirement and then by the new political leadership can be re- occupied.

History

President John Quincy Adams in 1825 tried to be impartial in his appointments, but quickly found out that this caused problems. He wrote in his memoirs:

When Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, he rewarded his support and trailers in a systematic way with government agencies. He thought that the successful election by the people were the victorious party, the " mandate " to appoint public officers from the ranks of his own party. Proponents of this practice, declared that the citizens as were in this way able to vote out the people in the public service of the activation of the executive. Opponent of spoils system replied that the system is vulnerable to incompetence and rampant corruption - and because ultimately "friends" of the election winner will be appointed, this would contradict the republican ideas.

With the inauguration of William Henry Harrison ( 1841) Washington gushed over formally from the hordes of people who were hoping for a government agency. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people traveled to the capital in order to snag one of 23,700 government agencies. Similar runs were reported by the previous swearing in of Andrew Jackson.

Between 1854 and 1896, the highlight of the spoils system took place. It has been quite effectively used by Abraham Lincoln, and he supported so that both his party and the Union in the Civil War. In the late 1860s, reformers demanded changes, but they learned in the elections of 1872, a bitter defeat, as the patron Economic -hungry Ulysses S. Grant won.

1883, the Pendleton Act ( Pendleton Act ) was introduced, which provided for a non-partisan civil service Commission ( Civil Service Commission ). This Commission has evaluated candidates for positions in the public service on an impartial basis; However, the law gave the president the right to transfer the current officials in the new system so that they had a permanent location. Around 1900, most government jobs were awarded by non-partisan commissions, and the spoils system only concerned the highest positions in the American polity.

The separation between politics and public service in 1939 was reinforced by the Hatch Act, which forbade state employees to participate in political activities. The spoils system survived much longer in the states, counties and municipalities. Notoriously was about the clique for the Democratic Tammany Hall Society in the City of New York, which certain urban policy until 1934. The state of Illinois modernized the civil service under Frank Orren Lowden in 1917, but the largest city of Illinois, Chicago, the patron shaft system had until the 1970s into it.

Today, the U.S. president appoints 3000 officers; which must be approved by the Senate more than 1,200.

Credentials

• Policy ( USA )
• Andrew Jackson