Spoils v Merit

The Spoils System is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to it's supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party. A Merit System is where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. The spoils system flourished in the US from the 1820's until after the Civil war, at which the time the system's abuses prompted civil-service reforms designed to cut down the number of government posts filled by appointment and awarded jobs on the basis of the merit. The spoils system is still used today to award federal top jobs to people.