spoils system

(noun)

The systematic replacement of office holders every time the government changed party hands.

Related Terms

Examples of spoils system in the following topics:

  • Bureaucratic Reform

    • By the 1830s, the "spoils system" referred to the systematic replacement of office holders every time the government changed party hands.
    • It eventually placed most federal employees on the merit system and marked the end of the so-called "spoils system. " Drafted during the Chester A.
    • Civil service laws have consistently protected federal employees from political influence, and critics of the system complained that it was impossible for managers to improve performance and implement changes recommended by political leaders.

  • Jacksonian Democrats: 1824–1860

    • More broadly, the term refers to the period of the Second Party System (mid-1824–1860) when the democratic attitude was the spirit of that era.
    • The Jacksonian Era lasted roughly from Jackson's 1828 election until the slavery issue became dominant after 1850 and the American Civil War dramatically reshaped American politics as the Third Party System emerged.
    • Also known as the spoils system, patronage was the policy of placing political supporters into appointed offices.

  • The Elements of Ad Hoc Rational Action

    • For example, US President, Andrew Jackson, discovered that John McLean, his inherited Postmaster General, did not approve of the spoils system.

  • Types of Ballots

    • Poor designs lead to confusion and potentially chaos if large numbers of voters spoil or mismark a ballot.
    • Depending on the type of voting system used in the election, different ballots may be used.
    • Ranked ballots allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, while ballots for first-past-the-post systems only allow voters to select one candidate for each position.
    • In party-list systems, lists may be open or closed.
    • This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.

  • Isolationism

    • With military victory came the spoils of war –a very draconian pummeling of Germany into submission, via the Treaty of Versailles.

  • Low Voter Turnout

    • Furthermore, voters who do cast ballots may abstain, deliberately voting for nobody, or they may spoil their votes, either accidentally or as an act of protest.

  • Winning an Election: Majority, Plurality, and Proportional Representation

    • Proportional representation (PR) is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council.
    • Proportional representation is an alternative to voting systems based on single member districts or on bloc voting; these non-PR systems tend to produce disproportionate outcomes and to have a bias in favor of larger political groups.
    • PR systems tend to produce a proliferation of political parties, while single member districts encourage a two-party system.
    • The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly that is based on single-member constituencies .
    • Seats won by each party in the 2005 German federal election, an example of a proportional voting system.

  • The Two-Party System

    • The modern political party system in the U.S. is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
    • The Fourth Party System, 1896 to 1932, retained the same primary parties as the Third Party System, but saw major shifts in the central issues of debate.
    • In the U.S., forty-eight states have a standard winner-takes-all electoral system for amassing presidential votes in the Electoral College system.
    • There are two main reasons winner–takes–all systems lead to a two-party system.
    • One opinion in political science is that a two-party system promotes centrism, less extremism, and that a two-party system is generally more stable and easier to govern than multi-party systems which can become a hung parliament.

  • Political Parties

    • The type of electoral system is a major factor in determining the type of political party system.
    • The single-party system is thus usually equated with dictatorships and tyranny.
    • Congress are examples of two-party systems.
    • Multi-party systems are systems in which more than two parties are represented and elected to public office.
    • The United States Congress is an example of a two-party system of governance.

  • Political Parties from 1800–1824

    • The First Party System refers to political party system existing in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824.
    • The First Party System is a model of American politics used by political scientists and historians to periodize the political party system existing in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824.
    • The First Party System ended during the Era of Good Feelings (1816–1824), as the Federalists shrank to a few isolated strongholds and the Republicans lost unity.
    • In 1824-28, as the Second Party System emerged, the Republican Party split into the Jacksonian faction, which became the modern Democratic Party in the 1830s, and the Henry Clay faction, which was absorbed by Clay's Whig Party.
    • Distinguish the issues and policies supported by the first political parties and identify the central elements of the First Party System