se resembled a pigsty. "Several thousand dollars' worth of
broken china and cut glass and many bleeding noses attested the
fierceness of the struggle." It was the people's day, and it was of no
avail for fastidious Adamsites to lift their eyebrows in ridicule or
scorn.

Those in whom the establishment of the new order aroused keenest
apprehension were the officeholders. A favorite theme of the Jackson
forces during the late campaign was the abuses of the patronage, and
the General came into office fully convinced that an overhauling of
the civil service would be one of the greatest contributions that he
could make to his country's welfare. Even if he had been less sure of
this than he was, the pressure which office seekers and their friends
brought to bear upon him would have been irresistible. Four-fifths of
the people who flocked to Washington at inauguration time were seekers
after office for themselves or their friends, and from every county
and town the country over came pleas of service rendered and claims
for reward. But Jackson needed little urging. He thought, and rightly,
that many of the incumbents had grown lax in the performance of their
duties, if indeed they had ever been anything else, and that fresh
blood was needed in the government employ. He believed that short
terms and rapid rotation made for alertness and efficiency. He felt
that one man had as much right to public office as another, and he was
so unacquainted with the tasks of administration as to suppose all
honest citizens equally capable of serving their fellowmen in public
station. As for the grievances of persons removed, his view was that
"no individual wrong is done by removal, since neither appointment to
nor continuance in office is a matter of right."

Shortly after the election Major Lewis wrote to a friend that the
General was "resolved on making a pretty clean sweep of the
departments." It is expected, he added, that "he will cleanse the
Augean stables, and I feel pretty confident that he will not
disappoint the popular expectation in this particular." If a complete
overturn was ever really contemplated, the plan was not followed up;
and it is more than possible that it was Van Buren who marked off the
limits beyond which it would not be expedient to go. None the less,
Jackson's removals far exceeded those made by his predecessors.
Speaking broadly, the power of removal had never yet been exercised in
the Federal Government with of