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How did politicians of the Gilded Age use the spoils system?

The "Gilded Age" is the period of time during the late 1800s and early 1900s during which a high level of corruption, shoddiness, fakery, and little substance was rampant. The name comes from Mark Twain's novel of the same name.


Perhaps the spoils system is one of the main reasons why this time period became known as the "Gilded Age." In the spoils system, an elected official would unabashedly dole out jobs and favors to friends, family, and others.


These favors manifested themselves in different ways, but it was common to see jobs given in exchange for political favors, and nepotism was obvious in multiple levels of government. One egregious example of the spoils system was evident when U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant oversaw the insertion of several of his wife's family members into federal government positions.


During the tenure of Chester A. Arthur as president, he oversaw the implementation of the Civil Service Commission. This was the beginning of the end for the spoils system, as it set standards that stated that government jobs were to be given by merit, not privilege. Over time, the spoils system slowly gave way to this new process of hiring government employees.

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