| − | For roughly the first 100 years of the United States, jobs in the federal government were filled based on "political patronage," whereby the political party that won the presidency would pick other members of his political party to fill the jobs. "To the victor goes the spoils" was a saying that justified that type of favoritism. In short, it was the "spoils system" that allowed an incoming president to fire any federal worker and replace him with one of his political supporters. In 1829, for example, President Andrew Jackson fired many federal workers, particularly in the postal system, and replaced them with people who had helped him become president. | + | For roughly the first 100 years of the United States, jobs in the federal government were filled based on "political patronage," whereby the political party that won the presidency would pick other members of the same political party to fill the jobs. "To the victor goes the spoils" was a saying that justified this type of favoritism. In short, it was the "spoils system" that allowed an incoming president to fire any federal worker and replace him with one of his political supporters. In 1829, for example, President Andrew Jackson fired many federal workers, particularly in the postal system, and replaced them with people who had helped him become president. |
| − | The Pendleton Act, passed in 1883, ended much of that. It established a new "merit-based" system for most jobs in the federal government, which prevents an incoming president from replacing existing government workers. The Pendleton Act requires that most federal jobs be filled based on merit, rather than politics. The exceptions are the top-level positions, such as the heads of the departments, who report directly to the president and thus must be able to get along with him. Those top-level jobs are still filled based on political patronage. A Democratic president picks Democrats to fill those jobs, and Republican president picks Republicans. | + | The Pendleton Act, passed in 1883, ended much of that. It established a new "merit-based" system for most jobs in the federal government, which prevents an incoming president from replacing existing government workers. The Pendleton Act requires that most federal jobs be filled based on merit, rather than politics. The exceptions are the top-level positions, such as the heads of the departments, who report directly to the president and thus must be able to get along with him. Those top-level jobs are still filled based on political patronage. A Democratic president picks Democrats to fill those jobs, and a Republican president picks Republicans. |