SSCG4 the Student Will Demonstrate Knowledge of the Organization And

Unit 4 Focus Activity 2; Bureaucracy Directions; Write; Name, Date, and Class Period Across the top and attach Foldables to the back for turn- in. Use your reading sheets, notes. TOPIC SUMMARY Hundreds of agencies make up the federal bureaucracy. They are organized as cabinet departments, independent agencies, and regulatory commissions. The majority of these departments and agencies belong to the executive branch and help to see that laws are carried out. The civil-service system ensures that people are able to keep their government jobs regardless of whether they personally support the administration in office or not. Folded Table Three-Tab Venn Diagram Many of the bureaucracies of the government fall into To better understand the history of the civil service different classifications. Students will make a Folded Table system, have students make a Three-Tab Venn to classify two types, Independent Agencies and Regulatory Diagram. On the left tab, Students will explain the Commissions. In the left column will be Bureaucratic history and practices of the spoils system. On the right Organizations, Independent Agencies, and Regulatory tab, have them do the same for the civil-service system. Agencies. To the right of Bureaucratic Organizations will be On the center tab, students should list the advantages the Purposes and Examples Students can use information and disadvantages of both systems. from the text to list the purposes and some examples of Materials Needed: one sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper, scissors. each. Materials Needed: one sheet of 11" x 17" paper. Spoils System In the politics of the United States, a spoil system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters 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 on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. The term was derived from the phrase "to the victor go the spoils" by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828, with the term spoils meaning goods or benefits taken from the loser in a competition, election or military victory. Before March 8, 1831, moderation had prevailed in the transfer of political power from one presidency to another. President Andrew Jackson's inauguration signaled a sharp departure from past presidencies. An unruly mob of office seekers made something of a shambles of the March inauguration, and though some tried to explain this as democratic enthusiasm, the real truth was Jackson supporters had been lavished with promises of positions in return for political support. These promises were honored by an astonishing number of removals after Jackson assumed power. Fully 919 officials were removed from government positions, amounting to nearly 10 percent of all government postings. The Jackson administration attempted to explain this unprecedented purge as reform, or constructive turnover, but in the months following the changes it became obvious that the sole criterion for the extensive turnover was political loyalty to Andrew Jackson. The hardest hit organization within the federal government proved to be the post office. The post office was the largest department in the federal government, and had even more personnel than the war department. In one year 423 postmasters were deprived of their positions, most with extensive records of good service. The new emphasis on loyalty rather than competence would have a long term negative effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. President after president continued to use the spoils system to encourage others to vote for them. But by the late 1860s, citizens began demanding civil service reform. Running under the Liberal Republican Party in 1872, they were soundly defeated by Ulysses S. Grant. After the assassination of James A. Garfield by a rejected office-seeker in 1881, the calls for civil service reform intensified. Moderation of the spoils system at the federal level came with the passage of the Pendleton Act in 1883, which created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to evaluate job candidates on a nonpartisan merit basis. While few jobs were covered under the law initially, the law allowed the President to transfer jobs and their current holders into the system, thus giving the holder a permanent job. The Pendleton Act's reach was expanded as the two main political parties alternated control of the White House every election between 1884 and 1896. After each election the outgoing President applied the Pendleton Act to jobs held by his political supporters. By 1900, most federal jobs were handled through civil service and the spoils system was limited only to very senior positions. The separation between the political activity and the civil service was made stronger with the Hatch Act of 1939 which prohibited federal employees from engaging in many political activities. The spoils system survived much longer in many states, counties and municipalities, such as the Tammany Hall ring, which survived well into the 1930s when New York City reformed its own civil service. Illinois modernized its bureaucracy in 1917 under Frank Lowden, but Chicago held on to patronage in city government until the city agreed to end the practice in the Shakman Decrees of 1972 and 1983. Modern variations on the spoils system are often described as the political machine. Merit System (Civil Service) The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system. The United States civil service began to be run on the spoils system in 1829 when Andrew Jackson became president. The assassination of United States President James A. Garfield by a disappointed office seeker in 1881 proved its dangers. Two years later the system of appointments to the United States federal bureaucracy was revamped by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act which made the merit system common practice. The fitness of the candidate is determined by the ability to pass a written competitive examination, given by a commission of examiners. The answers submitted by candidates must be unsigned, so as to obviate the possibility of favoritism on the part of the examiners. A list is made of the successful candidates, arranged in the order of their merit as shown by the results of the examination. Appointments must be made from this eligible list in the order of rank unless good cause can be shown why one of higher rank should be set aside for one standing lower on the list. A common objection to the merit system is that it does not provide a comprehensive method of judging a candidate's abilities or predicting their future performance. This flaw often eliminates the most competent candidate for selection. Proponents of the system admit that the system does not always lead to the choice of most competent candidate but is effective in eliminating those most incompetent. In addition the possible exclusion of most competent candidate is outweighed by the system's benefits such as limiting the ability of nepotism and political favoritism. The power of appointment being vested in the president of the United States by the United States Constitution, it is not within the power of the United States Congress to fetter the president's action by the enactment of laws restricting the exercise of the power of appointments. Thus, in the United States, the merit system has been extensively applied by the voluntary action of the president following self-imposed rules. It has been judicially determined that the civil-service rules promulgated by the president of the United States do not have the force of general law, and confer upon members of the civil service no right to invoke the aid of the courts to protect them against violation thereof. They are the president's laws, and the president alone can enforce them. The civil service system of Kentucky is named "the Merit System". .

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