“Damngovernment”

Defending President Andrew Jackson’s appointment of Martin Van Buren in 1832 as Ambassador to England from an attack by Henry Clay, New York Senator William Marcy said: “It may be, sir, that the politicians of New York are not as fastidious as some gentlemen are as to disclosing the principles on which they act. They boldly preach what they practice … If they are successful, they claim, as a matter of right, the advantages of success. They see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.”