edHelper.com
A New Nation
(1776-1830)

The Spoils System

The Spoils System
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 4 to 5
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.23

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    federal, republican, president, investigate, beginning, jobs, earn, goal, shock, working, court, ability, government, impossible, against, support
     content words:    Andrew Jackson, In New York, United States, Rutherford B., New York, Chester Arthur, James Garfield, But Garfield, Pendleton Act, Civil Service Commission

Print The Spoils System
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print The Spoils System  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on The Spoils System
     Leave your feedback on The Spoils System  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

The Spoils System
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828. He knew that the people wanted change. To start with, he fired many of the employees that had been working for the government. Many of these people did well at their jobs. Jackson didn't care. He only wanted people who supported him to work for him.
 
2     Many of the people who liked Jackson wanted a job. Many of them got one. Jackson gave jobs to many people who had helped him win the election. Not all of these men could do the jobs that were given to them.
 
3     This was called the spoils system. It meant that government jobs were given to people that supported you. People who liked Jackson had a better chance of good jobs.
 
4     Because most of the men that Jackson hired couldn't do the jobs, he couldn't get help from them. Only his Secretary of State had the skills to do the job. Instead, Jackson would meet with other people to discuss any problems that he had. The men he met with were called the "kitchen cabinet."
 
5     The problems with the spoils system grew after Andrew Jackson. Each time a new president was elected, many people would go to Washington. They would ask for jobs.

Paragraphs 6 to 13:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper