 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
I was born for a storm, and a calm does not suit me.
Today presidents routinely appoint their supporters to head government departments and offices, but in Jackson's day many government positions were held by men who had been there since George Washington.
Even before his inauguration, Jackson planned to replace men he saw as corrupt federal employees with new appointees who could restore virtue and morality to government.
In his first message to Congress, he defended his right to remove people from government positions as a way to help the nation achieve its republican ideals.
"In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another," he asserted. Jackson called this process "rotation in office," but after Jacksonian Senator William Marcy proclaimed, "To the victor belongs the spoils," his adversaries called it the "spoils system."Jackson's practice of filling political positions with his supporters.
