To the Victors Go the Spoils
Winning has its privileges.
Have you ever had a great working relationship with someone that you would take this person to your next gig, or vice versa, depending on the power dynamic?
You see this happen in various sectors: sports, politics, business – you name it. In the fundraising world, teams of people go to different universities to work on major capital campaigns together. Once those are completed, they can move on to the next gig- tribes of fundraisers crisscrossing the country.
I’ve seen people jump from one job to another and take the same one or two people with them to each new stop like they are some blanky they need to have to work.
If you are wondering, the answer is no. No one wants to take me anywhere, and I have no work tribe.
I bet we have all seen people get and keep jobs they are not qualified for. Raise your hand if someone less talented and dedicated than you have received the promotion or job you feel you rightly deserve. Okay, as you put your hand down, rest assured, I have never been that person you are jealous of.
When you have a position of power, however you earned it, you have the right to decide who will work with you.
This idea leads us to the following presidential elections. Separated by forty years, we see the same issue because of incumbent presidents' decisions on civil service.
We begin with the reelection of Andrew Jackson.
Let's dive in.
43: The Presidential Election of 1832
Election Date: November 2 – December 5, 1832
The Candidates:
Andrew Jackson won the presidency in 1828 and looked to continue the smackdown of all his adversaries. He began within his administration and sacked his Vice President, John Calhoun, who, as a typical South Carolinian, loved South Carolina too much and supported a thing called Nullification.
Henry Clay was looking to spoil the Jackson party as he did in 1824 with the Corrupt Bargain.
Two other guys ran. John Floyd ran on the Nullifier Party ticket, founded by our man, Calhoun, and William Wirt ran as an Anti-Masonic, which I think meant he didn’t like brick layers.
If you want a Jeopardy answer - This was the first election where parties held conventions.
Major Issue of the Day:
Jackson did not renew the Bank of United States charter, saying it held too much power and was controlled by one guy who wasn’t elected.
The Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. You probably know this incident in history as the Trail of Tears, where hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people died when the federal government forced them from their eastern homes to move to reservations in the Midwest.
Slavery and its expansion into the frontier were increasingly becoming more of an issue.
The Winner:
Spoiled brats.
When Jackson was elected in 1828, he supposedly purged about 700 federal workers who were believed to be anti-Jackson bureaucrats.
He continued to give jobs to people who were firmly in his camp. Previous presidents did this, but for some reason, the people Jackson put in place were viewed as unworthy of the positions.
Clay and his supporters hammered Jackson on his political patronage. In response, a Jackson supporter, a senator from New York named William Marcy, explained to Clay how this works:
To the victors belong the spoils.
Which roughly translates to: We won, you lost. We get to do what we want.
The States in the Electoral College:
24. DC did not have a vote. No new states entered the Union since the last election.
The Electoral College had 288 members, and the winner needed 145 votes.
Jackson gained one state this time, meaning 16 went his way. Old Hickory also flipped New Jersey, Maine, and New Hampshire. He lost Kentucky to the hometown hero Clay and South Carolina to their golden boy Floyd. Wirt picked up Vermont, a state I guess never built anything with bricks.
It wasn’t a close race as Jackson won with 54% of the vote, to Clay’s 37%. Clay only won six states.
Why do people still feel multiple parties are a good thing? It’s not that Clay wouldn’t have won the White House if these other guys weren’t in, but he would have been more in striking distance.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Jackson was 12th in the rankings. I think I mentioned when I ranked the 1824 election that I’m going to have a serious discussion with myself about how I rank Jackson moving forward.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
I have to say there’s a growing part of me that wishes Clay was a more serious candidate. Add that to my emerging Jackson issues, and you can see why I don’t have this election ranked highly.
Forty years later, we see the same issue—the old war hero president running for reelection who has challenges with the people he hires.
Let’s dive in.
42: The Presidential Election of 1872
Election Date: November 5, 1872
The Candidates:
Ulysses S. Grant was president. The Republican party dominated the White House after winning the Civil War, and Grant was the most popular of them all.
However, some Republicans didn’t like Grant or the laws passed under Reconstruction, so the Liberal Republicans broke off, held their convention, and nominated Horace Greeley, the founder and editor of the New York Tribune newspaper.
The Democrats looked at their bench, decided everyone stunk, and tossed their lot in with Greeley.
I’m not sure how much vetting either party put Greeley through because the man was a vegetarian and an atheist. A guy like that couldn’t get elected in 2072, let alone in 1872.
Major Issue of the Day:
Reconstruction was in full swing. Grant granted Amnesty by signing into law that cleared about 500 confederates.
Women were still trying to secure the right to vote after the last of the Reconstruction Amendments, the 15th – the one that gave men of any race the right to vote- passed.
The Winner:
Being spoiled rotten.
Grant shared Jackson’s legacy of political patronage, but this time, it led to a lot of corruption.
Too many men in the Grant administration were involved in corruption during the first four years, and because Grant faced a guy who didn’t believe in God or the goodness of a steak, the corruption continued.
The States in the Electoral College:
37. The District would be about 100 years away from being allowed to vote.
There were 352 members of the Electoral College, and the winner needed to secure 177 votes.
Grant sacked Greeley like he was Vicksburg, winning 31 states and 55% of the vote—five more states than he took in 1868. Grant flipped New Jersey, Oregon, New York, and Georgia. He also picked up Alabama and Virginia, which were admitted back into the Union after the war.
Texas still hated Grant, and they returned after sitting out the 1868 election and voted for Greeley.
The wild thing about this election was Greeley died on November 29, 1872. So when they went to certify the election, they didn’t count the ones who voted for the candidate who didn’t know the goodness of eggs in the morning.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Grant checks in at 17. Unlike Jackson, I’m confident Grant will go up in the rankings after I spend some time reading more about his administration.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
It’s funny how forty years can pass, and we still deal with the same issues Grant and Jackson did regarding governing after winning.
While I think Grant deserves a higher ranking, this election wasn’t much of a debate. Greely wasn’t qualified, and I’m not sure anyone tried to put forth a candidate that could seriously challenge Grant.
I’m all for trying. Put someone up there who you can at least respect, like John McCain. Unfortunately, McCain wasn’t an option back in 1872.
What do you think? Were the spoils worth it?
I head back to Cleveland tomorrow. Anonymous and I will watch the moon blot out the sun and experience nature flipping out. Then we will watch a baseball game—America in the 21st Century.
Cleveland last experienced a total eclipse, like the one we will have on Monday, back in 1806. The next one after Monday will be in 2444. I won’t be around when that happens, so better experience now.
It won’t be long until I return here, which will be on Monday, getting your week in order. Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for reading.
Okay,
Chris
