Chester A. Arthur

Chester A. Arthur was born in Vermont in 1829 and became a New York lawyer and Republican political operative. During the Civil War, he served as quartermaster general of New York, gaining administrative experience. He later became collector of the Port of New York, a powerful patronage position tied to Senator Roscoe Conkling’s Stalwart machine. In 1880, Republicans chose him as James Garfield’s running mate to balance party factions.

Arthur became president after Garfield died from an assassin’s bullet in September 1881. Many reformers feared that Arthur, a product of machine politics, would protect the spoils system. Instead, Garfield’s assassination changed the political climate and Arthur surprised critics by supporting civil service reform.

His most important domestic achievement was signing the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. The law created a merit-based system for selected federal jobs and marked the beginning of the modern professional civil service. Arthur also supported naval modernization and tried to manage tariff and budget issues in an era of federal surpluses.

Arthur’s record also included immigration legislation responding to labor concerns on the West Coast. Arthur was not nominated by Republicans in 1884. He left office in 1885 and died the next year.