In politics and government, a spoils system is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends (cronyism), and relatives (nepotism) as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded or promoted on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.
In memoriam--our civil service as it was, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast showing a statue of Andrew Jackson on a pig, which is over "fraud", "bribery", and "spoils", eating "plunder". Included in Harper's Weekly on April 28, 1877, p. 325.
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act is a United States federal law passed by the 47th United States Congress and signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on January 16, 1883. The act mandates that most positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political patronage.
Hayes kicking Chester A. Arthur out of the New York Custom House
Ole Peter Hansen Balling's 1881 portrait of Chester A. Arthur