Spoils System vs. Merit System — Comparing Federal Employment Eras¶
Learning Objective¶
Students will compare (Bloom L2 — Understand) the spoils and merit systems and explain (Bloom L2 — Understand) why the transition occurred and what problems it solved.
- Bloom Level: Understand (L2)
- Bloom Verb: Compare, Explain
- Library: p5.js
Specification¶
The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 6: "Chapter 6: The Federal Bureaucracy".
Type: interactive infographic
**sim-id:** spoils-to-merit-timeline<br/>
**Library:** p5.js<br/>
**Status:** Specified
**Learning objective:** Students will *compare* (Bloom L2 — Understand) the spoils and merit systems and *explain* (Bloom L2 — Understand) why the transition occurred and what problems it solved.
**Design:**
- A split-screen timeline: left half shows "Spoils Era (1828–1883)" with red warning icons; right half shows "Merit Era (1883–present)" with green check icons
- Key events are clickable cards:
- Spoils: Jackson's "rotation in office" policy (1829), number of patronage jobs under Grant administration, Garfield assassination by Guiteau (1881)
- Merit: Pendleton Act (1883), extension of merit system (1900s), Hatch Act (1939, restricts political activity by federal employees), Civil Service Reform Act (1978)
- Each card opens an infobox with the event's name, date, description, and a "Why it matters" line connecting it to the current civil service system
- Clickable comparison table below: rows are criteria (hiring basis, job protection, dismissal grounds, political activity allowed), columns are spoils vs. merit
- Canvas: 100% width × 400px; responsive