Carl Russell Fish

“ Elbridge Gerry said of rotation that it “keeps the mind of man in equilibrio, and teaches him the feelings of the governed, and better qualifies him to govern in his turn.” This version of the benefits of rotation, that it was intended to educate the office-holder in the virtues of the people, grew in popularity during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, when it was not supposed that the people needed instruction in the arts of government. ”

“ The people in general, as was pointed out in the last chapter, disliked the life tenure and the aristocratic manners of the officials of the existing régime; those who enjoyed the national salaries should, they thought, be of the people. In the frontier states particularly, the superb self-confidence born of the pioneer's single-handed victory over nature balked not at the full measure of democracy, but boldly asserted that all men were created equally able to fulfil the duties of government offices. ”

“ This, then, was what the colonists ordinarily meant by rotation; it was to be applied to the lawmakers, and its objects were to educate the people and equalize the burdens of office-holding. With the quickening of political life, office ceased to be a burden; but the notion that it was a means of education persisted, and was welcomed by the democratic sentiment of the Revolution.
Although the “frame of government” had been discontinued in 1696, this particular provision was revived in the radical constitution devised for Pennsylvania in 1776. ”

“ The Massachusetts constitution of 1780 provided, “In order that the people may not suffer from the long continuance in place of any Justice of the Peace, who shall fail of discharging the important duties of his office with ability or fidelity, all commissions of Justices of the Peace shall expire and become void, in the term of seven years.” The New Hampshire constitution of 1784 gave them tenure for five years instead of during “good behavior,” “in order that the people may not be oppressed.” ”

“ He refused, and for a long time there is no mention of the spoils.
The frontier democracy of the West shared the characteristics of both North and South. During this period the people were divided according to personal sympathy and special issues, and consequently party lines were fluctuating. Hence there was no persistent and studied use of patronage to maintain party organization; but offices were none the less used by the leaders to promote the ends of the moment, while the people demanded that all public servants, appointive as well as elective, should be in sympathy with the majority. ”

“ How completely the popular will could be thwarted may be seen later.
From 1777 until 1795 continuously George Clinton was governor. His opponent at his first election was Philip Schuyler, whom he seems to have much respected, and whom he later appointed surveyor-general. [26] Many of the offices had been filled before he entered on his duties, and he wrote that he would remove no man from office without a hearing. Either he or the council of appointment did, however, distress one man by making him third, instead of second, on a list of judges. ”

“ Here, as in New York in 1821, the politicians took advantage of the democratical slogan of “rotation in office” to effect a limitation of tenure, and thus to make more easy the path of the spoilsman. [42]
The results of the spoils system in New York and Pennsylvania seem to have been as different as were the circumstances of its growth. The average standard of men called into the New York state service was certainly higher. Nearly always some men of eminent ability were to be found in the civil list. ”

“ The office involved powers which might become dangerous to the people, and, as it was elective, rotation was applied to protect them; when appointment was substituted for election, a definite term was provided to take the place of rotation. The justices of the peace were not usually elective, and, as their functions were such as might possibly become dangerous, it was provided that they should be commissioned for fixed periods. In both these cases limitation of term was clearly a substitute for rotation. ”

“ By the year 1828, then, in every state throughout the North and West the spoils system either was established or there existed an element eager to introduce it. The movement was a growing one, and it was but a question of time and circumstance when the custom would become national. The leaders of the Albany Regency, confident by reason of their success at home, looked for widespread influence through the control of the national patronage. Less powerful state leaders hoped to make secure their local position ”

“ In the new constitution then framed the council of appointment was abolished, and the appointing power was given to the governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Only 28 military and 325 civil appointments, however, were left to be thus disposed of; for the vast majority of the minor offices, as those of justice of the peace and the militia offices, were to be filled by direct popular election. The spoils system, however, was too firmly established to yield to these measures. ”

“ The positive, virile virtue of loyalty to one's friends ranked higher in the moral code of most Americans of that day than the more complex one of justice to one's enemies. To reward his friends and to punish his enemies was the proper conduct of a victor. ”

“ Under the early state government there was practically no complaint as to appointments; but when the Federalists began to condemn Jefferson's removals, their opponents replied by accusing them of excluding all Republicans from office. The best vindication of their administration is found in the conduct of James Sullivan, the first Republican governor. He was a strong, conscientious man, and refused to make any removals. ”

“ Besides these older families, the long governorship of George Clinton seems to have created a strong permanent interest, which passed to his nephew, De Witt Clinton, [24] while in New York City the democracy was marshalled by such organizations and leaders as Tammany Hall and Aaron Burr. Although Republican formulas were used, politics continued to be a game played by a number of factions, some aristocratic, some democratic, by bosses and patrons. ”

“ In Georgia there is a faint evidence of a desire for the spoils system in 1829, when George R. Gilmer, a representative of the Troup faction, was elected governor through the assistance of the Clarke faction; and the Clarke leaders wished him to divide the patronage between the two bodies of his supporters. ”

“ It must have been hard for the most discriminating Federalist to believe that the limitation of terms was made simply to hasten the triumph of pure democracy, when he saw that about forty members of the legislature received offices which they had helped to make vacant, not to mention the number given to relatives of members. ”

“ If they could not command the state, they might, by allying themselves with a national party, obtain control of the federal patronage; and this is just what happened when Jackson was elected.
In the old South, between the Potomac, the Alleghanies, and the ocean, there is less evidence of discontent and new methods. Of South Carolina, Calhoun said in 1849, “Party organization, party discipline, party proscription, — and their offspring, the spoils principle, have been unknown” ”

“ Adams's foes, but it takes weapons out of the hands of his friends.” [72] The administration was obdurate, though courteous. The president wrote to Edwards, August 22, 1827: “Your recommendation for the appointment of a sub-agent at Peoria will, in the event of a vacancy in that office, receive the deliberate consideration to which it is entitled, and a disposition altogether friendly to him as recommended by you. And your opinion in regard to any appointment of the General Government, in the state of Illinois, will be always acceptable to me.” ”

“ Then he gave weight to these letters by acknowledging the authorship, but too late, as it seemed, for the charges to be investigated before the presidential election of 1824, or till after he himself had left Washington on a foreign mission. Crawford's friends acted with promptness, recalled Edwards to give testimony, and secured a report which found the charges unsubstantiated. Edwards felt compelled to resign his appointment as minister to Mexico, and was visited with a general popular condemnation, which most historians have considered just. ”

“ The other senator from the state was Thomas, a political rival, and a supporter of Crawford's candidacy for the presidency. Edwards did not hope to secure all the new positions for his supporters or friends, but he made a vigorous effort to obtain an equal share of the patronage. December 22, 1820, he wrote to President Monroe advising that at least one appointment be made from eastern Illinois, recommending several available candidates, and condemning one of the men who had been already nominated, but whose nomination had not yet been acted on. ”

“ In October, 1771, Oliver Walcott resigned his commission as sheriff, which was signed November 14, 1751 (Connecticut Colonial Records, xiii. 568) ; yet in 1676 the sheriff or marshal seems to have been appointed for but one year (Ibid. ii. 275) . ”

“ National Republican and Ohio Political Register, December 30, 1825; Jackson Gazette, February 7, 1829. ↑ Calhoun thinks that Edwards should be one of the ministers to our “southern neighbors” (Calhoun to Edwards, June 12, 1822, Edwards, Illinois, 489-491) . ↑ Calhoun to Edwards, September 23, 1823: “I have been much pleased with Gen'l Green. He is intelligent and decisive; and must in time become important in the West” (Edwards Papers, 210) . ↑ Edwards Papers, 168, 176, 181-185. ↑ Edwards to Crawford, January 11, 1821; Ibid. 183-185. ↑ Edwards, Illinois, 491-492. ”