JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 1825 1850
AGE OF THE COMMON MAN
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Valuable land grants.
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Government jobs.
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Money.
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High-ranking military positions.
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Detailed explanation-1: -The spoils system was instituted by Democratic President Andrew Jackson. “To the victor goes the spoils” meant that every government job belonged to the party in power. This drawing was meant to depict Jackson’s decision-making in appointing members of his party to government positions.
Detailed explanation-2: -Andrew Jackson campaigned for president on the platform of government reform. As soon as he took office, he began removing supposedly incompetent civil servants and replacing them with friends and political allies. This became know as the spoils system.
Detailed explanation-3: -Although President George Washington based most of his federal appointments on merit, subsequent presidents deviated from this policy. By the time Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828, the “spoils system, ” in which officials rewarded political friends and supporters with government positions, was in full force.
Detailed explanation-4: -During this era of reform and “Jacksonian Democracy, ” the spoils system flourished by using political patronage to reward jobs to the partisan faithful.