The customs' service was correspondingly large, having grown immensely during the war.

In proportion to the population of the country there never had been, there has never since been, and perhaps there will never again be, so vast an official patronage placed at the absolute disposal of the President.
Public opinion, which has in later years tended to restrain the Executive Department from the personal use of the patronage of the Government, did not at that time exert a perceptible influence in this direction.

The maxim originating with William L.Marcy, but frequently attributed to President Jackson, that "to the victor belong the spoils," was then held in full honor; and though it was deprecated by many and openly opposed in Congress by a few, it was acquiesced in by the vast majority and was the rule and practice of the National Administration.

The patronage placed a formidable weapon in the hands of the President which could be so used as to annoy or help every Republican representative in Congress,--so used, indeed, as to prevent the election of many who were peculiarly offensive to Mr.Johnson.

He had been reared in the Democratic school of proscription, and had measured the force and indulged in the use of patronage throughout all his political life in Tennessee.