He assumed the presidency in a charged atmosphere of national grief. So changed was Arthur, that he promoted passage of the Pendleton Act of This act created the Civil Service Commission, and mandated written exams for classes of government jobs.
The Stalwarts were horrified, but politically could do nothing. Garfield had been made a martyr for reform, and Arthur took the high road, making that reform real. Oh, and by the way, the Mugwumps were another reforming splinter of the GOP. So appalled by the legacy of bribery and corruption, they bolted the party in for Democrat, Grover Cleveland. You are commenting using your WordPress.
You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Given the close calls in presidential elections during the era, the maintenance of political machinery and repaying favors with patronage was important to all presidents, regardless of party affiliation.
This had been the case since the advent of a two-party political system and universal male suffrage in the Jacksonian era. For example, upon assuming office in March , President Jackson immediately swept employees from over nine hundred political offices, amounting to 10 percent of all federal appointments.
Among the hardest-hit was the U. Postal Service, which saw Jackson appoint his supporters and closest friends to over four hundred positions in the service Figure. As can be seen in the table below Table , every single president elected from through won despite receiving less than 50 percent of the popular vote.
This established a repetitive cycle of relatively weak presidents who owed many political favors, which could be repaid through one prerogative power: patronage. As a result, the spoils system allowed those with political influence to ascend to powerful positions within the government, regardless of their level of experience or skill, thus compounding both the inefficiency of government as well as enhancing the opportunities for corruption.
At the same time, a movement emerged in support of reforming the practice of political appointments. As early as , civil service reformers gathered to create the Liberal Republican Party in an effort to unseat incumbent President Grant. Led by several midwestern Republican leaders and newspaper editors, this party provided the impetus for other reform-minded Republicans to break free from the party and actually join the Democratic Party ranks.
Although easily defeated in the election that followed, the work of the Liberal Republican Party set the stage for an even stronger push for patronage reform. Clearly owing favors to his Republican handlers for his surprise compromise victory by the slimmest of margins in , President Hayes was ill-prepared to heed those cries for reform, despite his own stated preference for a new civil service system. In fact, he accomplished little during his four years in office other than granting favors, as dictated by Republic Party handlers.
Two powerful Republican leaders attempted to control the president. The first was Roscoe Conkling, Republican senator from New York and leader of the Stalwarts , a group that strongly supported continuation of the current spoils system Figure. The other was James G.
Blaine, Republican senator from Maine and leader of the Half-Breeds. With his efforts towards ensuring African American civil rights stymied by a Democratic Congress, and his decision to halt the coinage of silver merely adding to the pressures of the economic Panic of , Hayes failed to achieve any significant legislation during his presidency.
However, he did make a few overtures towards civil service reform. First, he adopted a new patronage rule, which held that a person appointed to an office could be dismissed only in the interest of efficient government operation but not for overtly political reasons. Second, he declared that party leaders could have no official say in political appointments, although Conkling sought to continue his influence.
Finally, he decided that government appointees were ineligible to manage campaign elections. Although not sweeping reforms, these were steps in a civil service direction. Arthur had been notorious for using his post as customs collector to gain political favors for Conkling. When Hayes forcibly removed him from the position, even Half-Breeds questioned the wisdom of the move and began to distance themselves from Hayes.
The loss of his meager public support due to the Compromise of and the declining Congressional faction together sealed Hayes fate and made his reelection impossible. Following an expected convention deadlock, both factions agreed to a compromise presidential candidate, Senator James A.
Garfield of Ohio, with Chester Arthur as his vice-presidential running mate. He supported the passage of the Pendleton Act in The Independent Republicans, known as "Mugwumps," supported Cleveland, which cost Blaine the election. The Democrats controlled the House, while the Republicans dominated the Senate.
The battle over patronage split the Republican party into two factions: the Half-breeds and the Stalwarts.
The two differed mainly over who would control the party machinery. Half-breeds: They argued with the Stalwarts on the issues of who would control the party of machine and would distribute patronage jobs. The Half-breeds supported civil service reform and merit appointments to government posts. They were joined together as the Republican party, but disputes over patronage split it into two: Stalwarts and Half-breeds.
James G. Blaine: Blaine was a Republican Congressman, senator, secretary of state under Garfield, and a presidential candidate under the Republican Half-Breeds, who ran against Conkling.
Mugwumps: This term designated dissident members of the Republican party, who, in the presidential election of , refused to support the nominee of their party, James G.
Instead, they supported the Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, who was later elected. The term was first used derisively in a New York City newspaper, the Sun. High Tariffs: Republicans preferred high tariffs, while Democrats preferred low ones. Cleveland supported low tariffs. The Dingley tariff of increased rates to an all-time high levels while the Currency Act of officially changed the U.
The Wilson-Gorman Protective Tariff also unsuccessfully attempted to create an income tax. Treasury surplus: The high tariffs were feeding a large and growing budget surplus.
This surplus stood as a continual temptation to distribute it in the form of veterans pension or expensive public-work programs, known as pork barrel projects. The Stalwarts were a faction of the Republican Party that existed briefly in the United States during and after Reconstruction and the Gilded Age during the s and s.
Led by U. Some historians have dubbed Presidents Rutherford B.
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