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The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (ch. 27, 22 Stat. 403) is an 1883 United States federal law that established the United States Civil Service Commission, which placed most federal employees on the merit system and marked the end of the so-called "spoils system." Drafted during the Chester A. Arthur administration, the Pendleton Act served as a response to President James Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker. The Act was passed into law on January 16, 1883. The Act was sponsored by Senator George H. Pendleton, Democrat of Ohio, and written by Dorman Bridgeman Eaton, a staunch opponent of the patronage system who was later first chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. The most famous commissioner was Theodore Roosevelt (1889-95). Image File history File links Size of this preview: 426 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 4216 pixel, file size: 968 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Permission PD George Hunt Pendleton ( July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 426 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 4216 pixel, file size: 968 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Permission PD George Hunt Pendleton ( July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. ...
George Pendleton George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. ...
The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress. ...
The United States Constitution, the supreme law of the United States The United States Reports, the official reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the common law of the system of English law, which was in force...
The Office of Personnel Management or OPM is the United States government agency which serves to manage the civil service of the United States by the recruitment of qualified personnel into and the administration of their careers as part of the United States Civil Service. ...
The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. ...
In the politics of the United States, a spoils system refers to an informal practice by which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party. ...
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 21st President of the United States. ...
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831–September 19, 1881) was a major general in the United States Army, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the twentieth President of the United States. ...
is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
George Pendleton George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. ...
The History of the Democratic Party is an account of a continuously supported political party in the United States of America. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area Ranked 34th - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²) - Width 220 miles (355 km) - Length 220 miles (355 km) - % water 8. ...
Dorman Bridgeman Eaton (1823-1899), American lawyer, was born at Hardwick, Vermont, on 27 June 1823. ...
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Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ...
The law only applied to federal jobs: not to the state and local jobs that were the basis for political machines. At first it covered very few jobs but there was a ratchet provision whereby outgoing presidents could lock in their own appointees by converting their jobs to civil service. After a series of party reversals at the presidential level (1884, 1888, 1892, 1896), the result was that most federal jobs were under civil service. One result was more expertise and less politics. An unintended result was the shift of the parties to reliance on funding from business, since they could no longer depend on patronage hopefuls.
The act also prohibits soliciting campaign donations on Federal government property.
Further reading - Ari Hoogenboom, Outlawing the Spoils: A History of the Civil Service Reform Movement, 1865-1883 (1961)
- Paul P. Van Riper, History of the United States Civil Service (1958).
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