Un-Intended Consequences

As a political science major and self-proclaimed political science geek, I find it interesting to study the un-intended consequences of past elected officials. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson have supplied more than enough examples of how their inital policies have been abused, mutated, or maligned into something that they never intended to happen. We live with these policies in our current political system because they have become engrained within the system and there would never be enough bi-partisan support to change them.

Andrew Jackson followed in Thomas Jefferson's image and sought to prevent elites who were in federal agency positions from gaining too much power. He replaced many of these positions with people that had supported his campaign or were close friends and allies. His goal was to prevent an entrenched bureacracy from becoming corrupt and to reward party loyalty by elevating long-time party members into the federal government. Sounds good, right? Wrong! Jackson replaced many civil servants who knew their job with political allies that did not have a clue as to do their job. He also failed to appoint anyone that opposed his viewpoints.

Whilte the "spoils system" did not originate with Jackson, he eximplified it and made it a more common practice indirectly by strengthening party committment of those who hoped to gain a federal job if their candidate were to win. The spoils system is wrong because the best person for the job should be chosen to run it regardless of party, not the person who is most loyal to the winning party. The spoils system has continued up into the modern era and has allowed President's from both parties to appoint unqualified people to federal office.

Another indirect consequence of Jackson's presidency was the 2nd party system. I am not going to say that the modern party system would not have evolved eventually, but Jackson (D) forced the system to change with his opposition to the National Bank which was a galvanizing issue of the time and caused the formation of the Whig and Democratic Party. Martin Van Buren (D) followed in Jackson's staunch opposition to Whig ideals.

The incident in which Martin Van Buren (D) survived as Jackson's only trusted cabinent member shows how devisive Jackson could be. Van Buren would get nominated and become the 8th President of the United States and then would get the blame for the Panic of 1837 which was one of the United States worst financial crises. Van Buren got a reputation as a touch politician from his days in New York and this reputation was emboldened by his refusal to use the federal government to intervene financially in the depression.