Is So Corrupt It Makes The 19th Century’s Patronage System Look Good
The modern administrative state has become so corrupt and unaccountable to the people that it makes the patronage system (otherwise known as the spoils system) that characterized 19th-century American politics look good by comparison.
A patronage system developed quickly in the new United States after the first two political coalitions, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, formed, but it didn’t come to dominate American politics until the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson gave out many federal jobs to his political allies and people who had stumped for him on the campaign trail in the election of 1828. In a single year, he fired over 400 postmasters in order to give their jobs to his supporters.
Succeeding presidents adopted Jackson’s strategy, rewarding loyal supporters and enthusiastic campaigners with lucrative government posts, and the patronage system became ubiquitous in American political life. In addition to the judiciary, the president primarily appointed ambassadors, postmasters, and customs officials — all lucrative and desirable positions.
Politicians at the time recognized the patronage system as a potentially transformative force in American politics. Southern Democrats feared a Republican victory in the presidential election of 1860 in part because they knew Abraham Lincoln would have the power to appoint Republican federal officials in the South who would then disseminate anti-slavery ideas among the Southern populace, thereby undermining slaveholders’ control.