History of the United States II / Unit 5 USH2 0603 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Spoils System
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The idea
Under the spoils system, government offices were handed out as rewards for electoral help, a practice Andrew Jackson introduced to the federal government.
In practice
Jackson removing about nine hundred officeholders in eighteen twenty-nine, a tenth of all federal appointments.
Where people slip
More than four hundred of those removals were in the Post Office. Every new administration meant a new round of office seekers.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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