Marijane Underwood
Professor Ames
History 1302-011
28 November 2017
The Push for Civil Service
After the assassination of President Garfield in 1881, confusion begins to brew in the
United States. Chester Arthur is promoted to President, and is presented with perhaps the most
important decision of his career. President Arthur can push for a Civil Service system and please
the people but only serve one term, or favor the continuation of the patronage system which the
American people are opposed to, but serving a second term would be possible. If I were
President Arthur at this time, I would push Congress for the creation of a Civil Service system
because it is more ethical than the patronage system.
The greatest accomplishment with the Civil Service Reform Act, also known as the
Pendleton Act, would be the termination of the patronage system, which allowed government
officials to unjustly remove their opponents and replace them with their party supporters.
