American History

/History Class
What were the major political issues of the 19th century?

Civil Service Reform
Civil Service Reform had been a burning issue since the Grant administration and both Hayesand Garfield took smaller steps to wrangle in the corrupt and inefficient Patronage system in Washington. Arthur at first was skeptical of Civil Service reform, having been a member of the Stalwartswing of the Republican Party. Arthur, however, realized that reform was vital after the Republicans lost seats in the mid-term election of 1882. The Pendleton Act of 1883 was written by a Democrat,Senator George Pendleton, and "banned salary kickbacks, apportioned federal appointments among the states, and ruled that new employees must begin their service at the bottom of the career ladder,advancing only by merit exams."The passage of this reform became the single most important act in Arthur's presidency. The great irony is that Arthur, a product of the Spoils System, was just the man toend patronage. By standing up to his own friend Roscoe Conkling and wing of the Republican Party, Arthur showed remarkable independence from political forces.
Though it established a bipartisan CivilService Commission which forbade levying political assessments against officeholders and created a written examination system, the initial effects were less outstanding than many believe. GeraldBahles of the Miller Center of Public Affairs writes that because the legislation was "not retroactive, present (primarily Republican) incumbents could remain in office even if the Democrats won theforthcoming presidential election. In addition, the Pendleton Act did not cover state or municipal workers and even exempted many federal officials. Despite these imperfections the Pendleton Act was ahuge leap forward, spelling the end of the Spoils System.

Tariff Policy
The Blaine-Harrison reciprocity provision of the McKinley Tariff enabled the President to reduce tariffs on foreign goods...