Arthur, Chester (Administration)

THE ARTHUR administration's most lasting legislative legacy is undoubtedly the Pendleton Act of 1883. Responding to the assassination of President James Garfield by a deranged office seeker, the Congress passed and Arthur signed legislation creating the first Civil Service Commission. Because the bill's sponsors were Democrats and because many of Arthur's most generous supporters were beneficiaries of the spoils system, Arthur supported this reform at considerable political cost.

The legislation established competitive examinations for federal civil employees, prohibited office-hold-ers from requiring political contributions or partisan service from these employees, eliminated much outright nepotism, and directed that alcoholics be fired from federal civil service positions. This federal legislation soon became the model for similar reforms on the state and local levels. The Pendleton Act did much not only to professionalize the federal work force, but, given the percentage of American workers subsequently employed by the government at all levels, it also ensured that the civil service offered a stable livelihood and brought many American families into the middle class.

Another important piece of legislation enacted during the Arthur administration was the Chinese Exclusion Act. Initially, the Congress passed legislation prohibiting Chinese immigration and naturalization for 20 years, but after Arthur vetoed that legislation, it was revised with the term reduced to 10 years. Renewed in 1892 and 1902 and not formally repealed until 1943, the legislation not only soured relations between the United States and China for many decades, but it also ensured that even naturalized Chinese Americans would be treated as second-class citizens culturally, politically, and economically. Chinese Americans were, for instance, specifically prohibited from engaging in mining. The practices of the few Chinese American professionals were restricted to Chinatowns, and Chinese-American skilled workers could find employment only with businesses owned by other Chinese Americans. Unskilled Chinese Americans labored for substandard wages, exploited by firms that knew that Chinese Americans had few other employment options and few means of protesting the conditions of their employment.

Lastly, although the so-called Mongrel Tariff of 1883 was the sort of compromise that satisfied almost no one, it is often cited as the starting point for the ongoing conflict between protectionists and free-traders. As with other dramatic shifts in political philosophy, the Democratic and Republican positions on the issue have reversed as their political bases have changed. Initially the Republicans supported protectionism and the Democrats supported free-trade. But as unionized workers became a major part of the Democratic base and as multinational corporations began to proliferate, the Democrats began to support protectionism, and the Republicans, free trade. As displaced American factory workers are painfully aware, this issue continues to directly affect the economic standing of almost countless American families.

Arthur was born on October 5, 1829 in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. He graduated in 1848 from Union College in Schenectady, New York and worked several jobs including teacher, school administrator, and lawyer. During the Civil War he served as a brigadier general for the Union Army. In 1871 President Ulysses Grant appointed him as collector of the Port of New York City. After returning to his law practice in 1878, he was elected as vice president on the Garfield Republican ticket in 1880.

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