the size of the political pie expanded fast enough to satisfy this modest growth of the elite strata. Thus, the number of states (and therefore senators, state legislators, etc) doubled between 1790 and 1837. At the same time, the number of representatives in the House almost quadrupled (Figure 8.3). Furthermore, the number of federal employees, an important source of patronage, expanded faster than the general population: from 0.57 per thousand in 1816 to 1.02 per thousand in 1841
