Why US Presidents Were Adamant about Protecting the Spoils System

Following Senator William L. Marcy's contentious declaration in 1829, "to the winners belong the spoils," the spoils system was founded. It was a new system in which political appointments dictated who would hold civil and government positions. While the contentious spoils system was considered to be a means of encouraging improvements, several US presidents were adamant about safeguarding it because they saw it as corrupt and untrustworthy in a changing world.
Many of Andrew Jackson's political opponents were repulsed by the rampant corruption when he gained power, resulting in the establishment of the spoils system. The US presidents who later took office, therefore, tried not to protect the system because of the history of bribes and kickbacks that were required before one could engage in lucrative contracts (McNamara). Furthermore, a rampant siphoning of public funds was notable because the governing system was fond of giving a selected few advantage of operating public systems with fraud being rampant. The system was also not supported because it tended to favor party supporters and would thus deny the levying of taxes and in the legislative processes. The effect was that many of the presidents who later took over office felt that they needed not to protect the spoils government because it favored others while alienation the supporters of the ruling government.

In summary, it is worth highlighting that the spoils system was not favored by the US presidents because it was perceived to favor others at the expense of the public. Corruption incidents that were associated with the appointments during Andrew Jackson tenure meant that the system during the nineteenth century would receive little support from US presidents that later took over.









































Works Cited

McNamara, Robert. “The Spoils System.” Thought.co (2017): n. pag. Web.