of the
nation. As late as 1880, they had heard a delegate in the Republican
Convention, when asked to vote for a civil service plank, exclaim
indignantly: "Mr. President, Texas has had quite enough of the civil
service.... We are not here, sir, for the purpose of providing offices
for the Democracy.... After we have won the race, as we will, we will
give those who are entitled to positions office. What are we up here
for?" And they had become used to the silent or outspoken resistance to
their demands from men in "practical" politics.

The history of the civil servants of the United States falls into three
periods: Before 1829, 1829-65, and 1865-83. In the first period they
were commonly treated as permanent officials. Rarely had they been
removed for partisan purposes, although it had been the wail of
Jefferson that "few die, and none resign." Appointments had often been
given as the reward for past services, but none had felt a need for a
general proscription of officials upon the entry of a new President.

Andrew Jackson brought a new practice into use in 1829. His election
followed a political revolution, in which it was believed by his
supporters that the National Republican party had become corrupt. It was
a matter of faith and pledge to turn the incumbents out of office.
Hungry patriots crowded round the jobs, while Jackson's advisers
included men who in New York and Pennsylvania had already learned how to
use the offices as retainers for future service. Advocacy of the
Democratic principle of rotation in office was in practice easily
converted into the maintenance of the maxim that "to the victors belong
the spoils."

Every President after Jackson used the offices for partisan purposes,
and few objected to the practice on theoretical grounds. The simplicity
of the National Government made the habit less destructive than it
otherwise would have been. The spoils system did not enter the army or
navy, the only extensive technical departments of the United States. In
other branches of the Government a large majority of the officials were
unskilled penmen, whose places could easily be filled with others as
little skilled as themselves. Always a few clerks who knew the business
were saved to guide the recruits, and the departments were generally
working again before a President met his first Congress.

Lincoln was not different from his predecessors in the use of offices.
He permitted the most complete sweep that