on the side of Jackson. The course to be pursued
by Mr. Adams in order to insure victory was obvious enough; being
simply to secure the largest following and most efficient support
possible. The arts by which these objects were to be attained were not
obscure nor beyond his power. If he wished a second term, as beyond
question he did, two methods were of certain utility. He should make
the support of his Administration a source of profit to the
supporters; and he should conciliate good will by every means that
offered. To the former end what more efficient means could be devised
than a body of office-holders owing their positions to his appointment
and likely to have the same term of office as himself? His neglect to
create such a corps of stanch supporters cannot be explained on the
ground that so plain a scheme of perpetuating power had not then (p. 198)
been devised in the Republic. Mr. Jefferson had practised it, to an
extent which now seems moderate, but which had been sufficiently
extensive to deprive any successor of the honor of novelty in originating
it. The times were ripe for it, and the nation would not have revolted
at it, as was made apparent when General Jackson, succeeding Mr.
Adams, at once carried out the system with a thoroughness that has
never been surpassed, and with a success in achieving results so great
that almost no politician has since failed to have recourse to the
same practice. Suggestions and temptations, neither of which were
wanting, were however alike thrown away upon Mr. Adams. Friendship or
hostility to the President were the only two matters which were sure
to have no effect whatsoever upon the fate of an incumbent or an
aspirant. Scarcely any removals were made during his Administration,
and every one of the few was based solely upon a proved unfitness of
the official. As a consequence very few new appointments were made,
and in every instance the appointee was, or was believed to be, the
fittest man without regard to his political bias. This entire
elimination of the question of party allegiance from every department
of the public service was not a specious protestation, but an
undeniable fact at which friends grumbled bitterly, and upon which (p. 199)
foes counted often with an ungenerous but always with an implicit
reliance. It was well known, for example, that in the Customs
Department there were many more avowed opponents than supporters of
the Administration. What was to be