When Did The Size And Scope Of The Bureaucracy Expand Exponentially?

8a. The Development of the Bureaucracy

Andrew Jackson cemented the spoils organisation (also chosen rotation-in-office) during his presidency. He formed his ain group of advisors from his friends and political allies, known as the "Kitchen Cabinet," to back up his goals for the nation.

The original bureaucracy of the federal government consisted only of employees from iii small departments — State, Treasury, and War. The executive branch employs today almost three million people. Non only take the numbers of bureaucrats grown, but besides the methods and standards for hiring and promoting people take changed dramatically.

Patronage

George Washington promised to hire only people "as shall be the best qualified." Still, most of his employees belonged to the budding Federalist Party — the party toward which Washington leaned. When Autonomous-Republican Thomas Jefferson became President, he dismissed many of the Federalists and filled their jobs with members from his political party. With this activity, he began a long tradition of filling government positions through patronage, a system of rewarding friends and political allies in exchange for their back up.

Andrew Jackson is regarded every bit the President who entrenched the patronage, or "spoils" arrangement. Following the old proverb, "to the victor go the spoils," he brought a whole new group of "Jacksonian Democrats" into role. Jackson argued that the spoils arrangement brought greater rotation in office. He idea it was healthy to clear out the government workers who had worked for predecessors, lest they become corrupt.

Old U.S. Postal Service Logo
The U.South. Postal Service has changed along with the nation. From the Pony Express to today'due south uniformed postal workers, these bureaucrats evangelize the mail every 24-hour interval, regardless of the weather.

During the 1800s, while more and more than federal employees were landing their jobs through patronage, the hierarchy was growing chop-chop as new demands were placed on government. As the country expanded westward new agencies were needed to manage the state and its settlement. And equally people moved into the new areas, a greatly expanded Post Office was necessary. The Civil War sparked the creation of thousands of government jobs and new departments to handle the demands of warfare. Later the war, the Industrial Revolution encouraged economic growth and more than regime agencies to regulate the expanding economy.

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The Pendleton Act

The spoils tradition was diluted in 1881 when Charles Guiteau, a disappointed role seeker, killed President James Garfield because he was not granted a government job. Afterward Garfield'due south assassination, Congress passed the Pendleton Human action, which created a merit-based federal civil service. Information technology was meant to replace patronage with the principle of federal employment on the basis of open up, competitive exams. The Pendleton Act created a iii-member Civil Service Committee to administer this new merit system. At start only near x pct of federal employees were members of the civil service. Today, about 85 to 90 percent accept this exam.

Growth in the 20th Century

In reaction to the excesses of Gilded Historic period millionaires, many Americans demanded that the authorities regulate business organization and industry. As a upshot, a group of contained regulatory commissions emerged equally the 20th century dawned. The first of these agencies was the Interstate Commerce Commission, set upwards in 1887 to monitor abuses in the railroad manufacture. Reform movements of the early 20th century demanded that government regulate kid labor, food processing and packaging, and working and living conditions for the laboring classes.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
The Noncombatant Conservation Corps was function of Roosevelt's New Deal programs to battle the Depression. Aimed at employing men between the ages of 18 and 25, over three,000,000 men joined the CCC and became members of the federal bureaucracy betwixt 1933 and 1941.

The largest growth of the bureaucracy in American history came betwixt 1933 and 1945. Franklin Roosevelt'due south New Deal meant bigger regime, since agencies were needed to administer his many programs. With the American entry into Globe War Ii in 1941, the needs of the war elevated the number of federal agencies and employees even more. During those 12 Roosevelt years, the total number of federal employees increased from a little over half a million in 1933 to an all time high of more than than three.five million in 1945.

Later World War Two ended in 1945, the total number of federal employees decreased significantly, but still has remained at levels between most 2.5 and 3 million. Contrary to popular stance, the federal bureaucracy did not grow in numbers significantly during the last one-half of the 20th century. Federal bureaucrats did, even so, greatly increase their influence.