Spoils System
In the politics of the United States, a spoil system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.
The term was derived from the phrase "to the spoils of the enemy" by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828.
Similar spoils systems are common in other nations that traditionally have been based on tribal organization or other kinship groups and localism in general.
Read more about Spoils System: Peak and Reform
Famous quotes containing the words spoils and/or system:
“Wit. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)