Spoils or Merit?

Deep within the confines of our federal government’s bureaucracy lie two systems that determine our government officials: The Spoils System; and the Merit System.

The Spoils System, developed under president Andrew Jackson, is a system within our government which the president takes advantage of and provides government jobs to family, friends, and supporters in order to maintain popularity, and support. Most of the people who are appointed these jobs are not properly qualified and do not perform the proper tasks that one in that position would need to fulfil under the current president.

This system, however, was soon squashed after the Civil War. They soon realized that giving unqualified people government jobs was extremely inefficient. While Benjamin Harrison was in office, he fired 31,000 postal workers every year to hire his hand-picked employees. Andrew Jackson also fired 910 of his government officials to make room for his supporters as well. This was the birth of the Merit System which gave the proper people for the job, jobs. The Merit System came into play after the Pendleton Federal Civil Service Act of 1883 was enacted into the government. That was the end of the Spoils System forever… or so we thought.

“... Obama has doled out ambassadorships…” (The Wire). Presidents often break their promises once they have finally claimed their presidential victory over their opponents. Obama being no exception. President Obama has also given government jobs to up his popularity and support while he was and is in office. Although the Spoils System still lingers within our federal government, it is not nearly as impactful as it was 200 years ago. Our Government will never be perfect, however, with the Pendleton Act still in effect, the Merit System still dominates the government.