The 'spoils system' and its reform have had a shorter and a more recent history in the United States. It was instituted by President Jackson in 1829, as an incident of his bitter and proscriptive campaign for the Presidency, at a time when it was already on the wane in Great Britain. The doctrine enunciated in the notorious declaration of Senator 31arey, that "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy," rap idly became the accepted principle of political action in this country, and represents a more thoroughgoing and vicious form of the system than ever existed in England. There, as here, office was the reward of party service; hut time principle of the 'dean sweep,' whereby an in coming administration makes room for its sup porters by the wholesale removal of the incum bents of the public service. was the exclusive possession of the American Republic. So well adapted did this principle prove itself to the American party system, that it spread rapidly from the national Govennnent to the several States until it permeated the entire public life of the country. So firmly did it become in trenched in the civic life of the American peo ple, that it has been affectionately described and defended by its supporters as the 'American system.' Its essentially artificial character is evidenced by the fact that in the forty years from the beginning of Washington's administra tion to that of Jackson, not a single subordi nate officer of the Government was removed without cause, while in Jackson's first term the number of such removals rose to thousands.
This was not accomplished without protest, however. The new principle was vigorously combated in the Senate of the United States by Clay, %Vebster, Calhoun, and other leaders—the first of whom denounced it as "a detestable sys tem, drawn from the worst periods of the Roman Republic." But nothing availed to stay the tide, and for forty years more no President raised his voice against the system or failed to net upon it. But the sentiment in favor of reform was slowly gathering force, and in 1867 it found its first effective expression in a report to the House of Representatives, made by Mr. Thomas A. Jenekes of Rhode Island. recommending the establishment of a merit system, based upon competitive examinations. A second report, rec ommending similar action, was made by Mr. Jenekes the next year, but it was not until 1871 that the growing force of public opinion compelled Congress to take action upon the sub ject. In that year a clause in the general appro priation bill authorized the President toprescribe rules for admission to the civil service, and to appoint a commission for that purpose. Presi dent (trent thereupon appointed the first Civil Service Commission. with George William Cur tis as chairman, and in December of the same year the Commission reported. recommending a set of rules and regulations. This report watt adopted and the rules and regulations of the Commission put into effect, and thus the first victory for Civil-Service Reform was won. These rules, with certain additions to them recom mended by the Commission in the spring of 1872, remained in force until the winter of 1875. when the growing opposition of the politicians in duced Congress to withhold the annual appro priation for the working of the system, and the President yielded to party pressure and sus pended the operation of the Civil-Service Rules.
The most memorable event in the long strug gle for the reform of the civil service in the 1 nited States was the organization of the Civil Service Reform Association in New York in May, 1877. This organization, and the National Civil-Service Reform League into which it de veloped. under the presidency of INIr. Curtis. instituted an active propaganda for the creation of a public sentiment in favor of the reform, and by its meetings and public addresses. and
by the high and disinterested character of the men who were prominent in its work, power fully stimulated the movement. After this the triumph of the reform was not long de layed. In January. 1883, the bill introduced by Senator Pendleton, of Ohio. which, in the lan guage of the National Civil-Service Reform League, provided "a constitutional, practical, and effective measure for the remedy of the abuse known as the spoils system." was adopted by overwhelming majorities of both Houses of Congress. and the 'merit system' was an estab lished fact. The Civil-Service Law, which went into effect in July. 1883. prohibited the vicious practice of levying assessments for partisan pur poses upon members of the civil service of the Government, authorized the appointment of a commission to frame rules and regulations for the civil service, and empowered the President, from time to time. to determine by executive order what classes of the public services should conic under the operation of such rules. In the same year a similar bill, applying the same prineiples to the civil service of the State of New York, was passed by the Legislature and became a law, and in the following year the sys tem was extended by statute to the twenty-three incorporated cities of that State. In 1884, also. the new system was adopted in Massachusetts. The reform of the civil service was now secure, but still far from complete. The President (Arthur). who had himself. as a New York politician. been a devoted adherent of the old system, nevertheless administered the new one faithfully: but it was deemed expedient to pro ceed slowly in its application, and only 14,900 employ• of the Government were at first brought within the 'classified service.' It must be said that the high tide of public feeling which resulted in these sweeping victories for the movement has never been reached again, and that the active hostility of party leaders has greatly retarded its progress. The new system has made gains; it has been adopted in whole or in part in a few more States, and it has been extended by executive order of the President to classes of public servants not previously af fected by it, but in many of the United States the political 'machine' has been strong enough to maintain the old system unimpaired. and in many others there is a complete absence of popular feeling on the subject. In other words, the political development of the American peo ple has not yet reached the point, attained by the English electorate a generation ago, of rec ognizing the supreme importance of clean and efficient administration to the welfare of the State. Much of the progress of the past twenty years has been due to the cautious initiative of enlightened Presidents, especially of Cleveland, Harrison, and Roosevelt, the last of NN hom has long been known as a devoted friend of the reform movement, and, as Civil-Service missioner under President Harrison, did much to commend the new system to the American people. The nature of the 'merit system' and its operation will be described under that title. The character of the partisan system will he found discussed in the article on the 'Spoils System.' See also CIVIL SERVICE; and consult: Eaton, Ciril Service in Great Britain: A History of Abuses and Reforms and Their Bearing Upon American Polities (New York, ISSO) ; George William Curtis. Orations and Addresses, vol. (New York, 1894); Theodore Roosevelt. Ameri can Ideals, part ii. (New York. 1900) ; Bain, Practical Essays (London) ; Clarke, Ciril-Ser vice Lame (3d ed., New York, 1897) ; Rogers. "George William Curtis and Civil-Service Re form," in Atlantic Monthly (January, 1893) : and the reports of the American Civil-Service Reform Association.