Legislation · 1883

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

Passed after President James A. Garfield was assassinated in 1881 by a disappointed office seeker, the act required that covered federal jobs be filled on the basis of merit through open, competitive examinations rather than political patronage. It created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission, barred firing or demoting covered employees for political reasons, and forbade requiring federal employees to give political service or contributions.

“…for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified hereunder.”

Senator George H. Pendleton (sponsor), January 16, 1883

Why it matters

Named for Democratic Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio and signed by Republican President Chester A. Arthur, once a product of the patronage system himself, the law at first covered only about 10 percent of federal jobs but grew into the foundation of the modern professional civil service.

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Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

civil service reform good government patronage executive branch

From the library

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

Why it matters

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