The assassination of James Garfield, left, led his successor, Chester Arthur, to sign the law creating the competitive civil service.

The assassination of James Garfield, left, led his successor, Chester Arthur, to sign the law creating the competitive civil service. Buyenlarge/Getty

That Time Reformers Took on Cronyism, Nepotism and Alcoholism in the Federal Workforce

How the Pendleton Act created the modern civil service.

The latest in an intermittent series looking back at groundbreaking, newsmaking, appalling and amusing events in government history.

In 1883, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Pendleton Act, designed to professionalize the federal workforce. The law was very clear about who had no business working in government:

“No person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed to, or retained in, any office, appointment, or employment to which the provisions of this act are applicable,” it stated. 

Truth be told, alcoholics weren’t the central concern of the reformers behind the Pendleton Act. Their prime target was the political cronies of elected officials, who were rewarded for their support—financial and otherwise—of successful candidates with patronage positions in government. To the political victors went the spoils of plum government positions—and non-plum jobs, too.

The law also targeted nepotism in federal employment. “Whenever there are already two or more members of a family in the public service in the grades covered by this act, no other member of such family shall be eligible to appointment to any of said grades,” it stated. 

The idea was to overhaul a system where not only were unqualified people appointed to federal jobs, but employees could be fired at any time simply for supporting the wrong party. The system had been in place for decades, and efforts to create a professional civil service had failed to gain much traction. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law creating a Civil Service Commission in 1871, but it was largely toothless. The commission’s funding ran out after two years, and Congress didn’t renew it.

The situation changed in 1881, when Charles Guiteau, angry that he hadn’t received an appointment to a federal job, assassinated President James Garfield. Guiteau, an unsuccessful lawyer, had delivered a couple of speeches in favor of Garfield’s candidacy, and believed that this entitled him to the post of ambassador to Austria. He appeared to be aware, however, that his qualifications weren’t strong, because he relied on a simpler argument in a letter to Garfield formally requesting the position. “On the principle of first come first served,” Guiteau wrote, “I have faith that you will give this application favorable consideration.” 

With Garfield’s assassination, civil service reform suddenly became a hot-button political issue nationally. Arthur, who succeeded Garfield, backed the idea even though he had been an enthusiastic user of the spoils system in a stint as head of the federal customs house in New York. In fact, in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes fired Arthur from his customs position for giving away too many patronage jobs. 

The Pendleton Act required open, competitive examinations for certain positions in the civil service, ensured that employees in these positions would not be required to contribute to political campaigns, and declared that “no officer or employee of the United States mentioned in this act shall discharge, or promote, or degrade, or in manner change the official rank or compensation of any other officer or employee, or promise or threaten so to do, for giving or withholding or neglecting to make any contribution of money or other valuable thing for any political purpose.”

The Pendleton Act not only funded the Civil Service Commission, but ordered that its three members not be stuck in some bureaucratic backwater. “It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to cause suitable and convenient rooms and accommodations to be assigned or provided, and to be furnished, heated, and lighted, at the city of Washington, for carrying on the work of said commission,” the law stated.

So with a stroke of the pen, Arthur brought an end to the spoils system and ushered in a new competitive, professional civil service. Well, not exactly. For starters, the law applied only to a fraction of the federal workforce. It covered employees at federal offices in Washington and customs houses and post offices in major cities. 

In his book Roosevelt the Reformer, on Theodore Roosevelt’s years as a crusader for civil service reform, Richard D. White notes that the Pendleton Act initially covered 14,000 federal employees out of a total workforce of 133,000 people. From 1883 to 1901, the number of patronage positions in government actually increased, from 118,000 to 150,000. The commission lacked the authority to shift patronage positions into the merit system and had to busy itself with overseeing the examination process for those positions that were classified as competitive.

On top of that, opponents of reform continued to fight to undermine the Pendleton Act for years. Spoils system backers filled the halls of Congress, and presidents were slow to change traditional practices as well. It would take years before a truly independent, professional civil service emerged.

Eventually, though, competitive examinations became the rule for federal government positions. That lasted until 1981, when a class action lawsuit alleged that the Professional and Administrative Careers Examination discriminated against Black and Hispanic applicants for federal jobs. That led to a consent decree eliminating the exam. In the years that followed, a patchwork system of other competitive procedures and special hiring programs emerged, leading to the fragmented civil service system we have today.

The Pendleton Act has reentered the public debate again recently, as Republicans seek to turn the federal workforce into at-will employees, via either the Public Service Reform Act or the reincarnation of Schedule F, a job classification system proposed but never fully implemented near the end of the Trump administration to make employees in policy-related positions subject to removal by their political overseers. For the first time in more than 100 years, the very idea of a competitive civil service, insulated from political pressures, is under attack. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.