Spoils system
The term spoils system ( German : Spoilssystem ) denotes the practice in US American politics that the winner of an election rewards his supporters with jobs in public administration. The spoils system is also an incentive for supporters to continue working for the election winner's party. The term is derived from Senator William L. Marcys saying "to the victor belong the spoils", in German about "the winner belongs to the spoils".
The spoils system is in complete contrast to the concept of meritocracy , where positions are only filled based on performance and ability, but regardless of political affiliation. The spoils system is justified as long as the office is mainly a political one and the exercise of which must follow the will of the voters (e.g. an agriculture minister who is supposed to achieve good economic conditions for farmers). If an office needs professional competence, the spoils system is harmful.
Regarding the situation at the federal level: Since 1952, i.e. since the Eisenhower government, the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions manual, usually known as the “Plum Book”, has been published after each presidential election . It is a list of the offices whose incumbents are appointed by the President .
In Germany this approach corresponds roughly to the concept of political officials . In Germany, these are the prominent management functions (e.g. state secretaries, department heads in ministries, police presidents, generals) whose owners can be temporarily retired without giving reasons (usually after a change in political leadership) and which are then carried out by the new political leadership can be filled.
history
President John Quincy Adams tried to be impartial in his appointments in 1825 but quickly found that doing so caused problems. He wrote in his memoir:
“In such appointments, the wormwood and gall of the previous party oozes out [when a person from one party is appointed to office by the president of the other party]. If a vacant office was to be filled and an excellent federalist - but obnoxious with the Republicans - lent himself in for it - he cannot be appointed without causing vehement nagging against him and the administration. It is therefore impossible to occupy any office without half the community [ community to anger]. "
When Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, he systematically rewarded his bearers and followers with government positions. He thought that the successful election by the people would give the victorious party the “mandate” to appoint state officials from among the ranks of its own party. Proponents of this practice stated that in this way citizens would be able to vote out those in the public service by voting out of the executive branch . Opponents of the spoils system replied that this system is prone to incompetence and unbridled corruption - and because “friends” of the election winner are ultimately appointed, this would contradict Republican ideas .
With the inauguration of William Henry Harrison (1841), Washington was literally overflowing with the hordes of people hoping for a government position. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people traveled to the federal capital in order to get hold of one of 23,700 government posts. Similar rushes have been reported from Andrew Jackson's earlier swearing in.
The peak of the spoils system took place between 1854 and 1896 . It was used quite effectively by Abraham Lincoln, using it to support both his party and the Union in the Civil War . Reformers demanded changes in the late 1860s, but suffered severe defeat in the 1872 election when patronage-hungry Ulysses S. Grant won.
In 1883 the Pendleton Act was introduced, which provided for a non-partisan Civil Service Commission . This commission evaluated candidates for public service positions on an impartial basis; however, the law gave the President the right to transfer current officials to the new system so that they would have permanent positions. By 1900 most government jobs were then awarded by non-partisan commissions, and the spoils system only affected the highest positions in the American state administration.
The separation between politics and civil service was reinforced in 1939 by the Hatch Act , which banned state employees from engaging in political activities. The spoils system survived much longer in the states, counties, and communities. Notorious, for example, was the clash surrounding the Democratic Tammany Hall Society in New York City, which determined urban politics until 1934. The State of Illinois modernized its civil service under Frank Orren Lowden in 1917, but the largest city in Illinois, Chicago , maintained the patronage system well into the 1970s.
Today the US President appoints 3,000 public officials; more than 1,200 of these have to be approved by the Senate .
credentials
- ↑ a b u-s-history.com
- ↑ a b u-s-history.com
- ^ "Plum Book" in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ Plum Book online: The Plum Book (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions): Main Page. ( Memento from August 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Josiah Quincy: Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams. 1858, p. 148.
- ^ Powers of the President of the United States