ABSTRACT
George Washington envisioned the ideal that people of character and competence as hallmarks of professionalism would fill the ranks of his administration. Rather than mere employees, the constitution refers to officers of government. With the emergence of political parties, Washington's ideal would come under pressure as partisans sought to repay their supporters with the rewards of victory. The plundering and pillaging of office-favoritism, cronyism, intimidation, corruption during the ensuing spoils system prevailed for much of the nineteenth century. Most states and many localities established their own centralized merit systems to reduce corruption and enhance productivity. Such developments were reaffirmation of Alexander Hamilton's belief that government should be judged by the quality of its administration. The promise of the profession is traced from the Pendleton Act through the middle of the past century. To protect the legitimacy of the state from private interests, and to cleanse the public service from partisan interference, English merit principles were adopted in the Pendleton Act.
