Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets A New Nation (1776-1830)

The Spoils System A New Nation (1776-1830)

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The Spoils System
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Reading Level

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

Vocabulary

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

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The Spoils System By Cathy Pearl

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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."

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
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A New Nation
(1776-1830)

A New Nation (1776-1830)

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