Veterans' Preference Act - Preference Before The Civil War

Preference Before The Civil War

The use of preference in Federal appointments extends back to the days of the Revolutionary War. Though no legal basis existed to govern the treatment of war veterans, certain soldiers were rewarded for their service by the Federal government. Early forms of preference were often based on European models and featured the use of pensions, bonuses for service, disability allowance, and hospitalization for injuries incurred while in uniform, as rewards for service to one's country. It wasn't until the heyday of the spoils system, however, that appointments to Federal positions as a reward for military service become a popular practice. These appointments, however, were usually reserved for ex-officers, and not for the rank and file soldier.

Read more about this topic:  Veterans' Preference Act

Famous quotes containing the words civil war, preference, civil and/or war:

    The utter helplessness of a conquered people is perhaps the most tragic feature of a civil war or any other sort of war.
    Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835–1930)

    Moral choices do not depend on personal preference and private decision but on right reason and, I would add, divine order.
    Basil Hume (b. 1923)

    During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.
    —Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    There is great fear expressed on all sides lest this war shall be made a war for the negro. I am willing that it shall be. It is a war to found an empire on the negro in slavery, and shame on us if we do not make it a war to establish the negro in freedom—against whom the whole nation, North and South, East and West, in one mighty conspiracy, has combined from the beginning.
    Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)