Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

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Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
Great Seal of the United States
NicknamesPendleton Act
Enacted bythe 47th United States Congress
Citations
Statutes at Largech. 27, 22 Stat. 403
Legislative history

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act is a

United States federal law passed by the 47th United States Congress and signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on January 16, 1883. The act mandates that most positions within the federal government
should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political patronage.

By the late 1820s, American politics operated on the

lame duck session and President Chester A. Arthur
, himself a former spoilsman, signed the bill into law.

The Pendleton Civil Service Act provided for the selection of some government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote these government officials for political reasons and created the United States Civil Service Commission to enforce the merit system. The act initially only applied to about ten percent of federal employees, but it now covers most federal employees. As a result of the court case Luévano v. Campbell, most federal government employees are no longer hired by means of competitive examinations.

The namesake of the Pendleton Act is

white supremacist Democrats to curtail patronage, which had been used by "Stalwart" Republicans to socially and economically benefit blacks.[2]

Background

Cartoon of one man kicking another out of a building
Hayes kicking Chester A. Arthur out of the New York Custom House

Since the presidency of Andrew Jackson, presidents had increasingly made political appointments on the basis of political support rather than on the basis of merit, in a practice known as the spoils system. In return for appointments, these appointees were charged with raising campaign funds and bolstering the popularity of the president and the party in their communities. The success of the spoils system helped ensure the dominance of both the Democratic Party in the period before the American Civil War and the Republican Party in the period after the Civil War. Patronage became a key issue in elections, as many partisans in both major parties were more concerned about control over political appointments than they were about policy issues.[3]

During the Civil War, Senator

executive order that forbade federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise taking part in party politics.[7]

According to historian Eric Foner, the advocacy of civil service reform was recognized by blacks as an effort that would stifle their economic mobility and prevent "the whole colored population" from holding public office.[8]

annual message to Congress in 1880 to appeal for reform.[12]

Provisions

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act provided for selection of some government employees by competitive exams rather than ties to politicians, and made it illegal to fire or demote some government officials for political reasons.[13] The act initially applied only to ten percent of federal jobs, but it allowed the president to expand the number of federal employees covered by the act.[14]

The law also created the United States Civil Service Commission to oversee civil service examinations and outlawed the use of "assessments," fees that political appointees were expected to pay to their respective political parties as the price for their appointments.[15] These assessments had made up a majority of political contributions in the era following Reconstruction.[16]

Legislative history

Portrait of a man with a tremendous mustache
Ole Peter Hansen Balling's 1881 portrait of Chester A. Arthur

In 1880, Democratic Senator

examination, but the measure failed to pass.[17] Pendleton's bill was largely based on reforms proposed by the Jay Commission, which Hayes had assigned to investigate the Port of New York.[18] It also expanded similar civil service reforms attempted by President Franklin Pierce
30 years earlier.

Hayes did not seek a second term as president, and was succeeded by fellow Republican

New York Times, which had supported Arthur earlier in his career, wrote "Arthur is about the last man who would be considered eligible for the position."[21]

Garfield's assassination by a deranged office seeker amplified the public demand for reform.

1882 congressional elections.[24]

The party's disastrous performance in the 1882 elections helped convince many Republicans to support the civil service reform during the 1882

George W. Steele, and Orlando Hubbs.[28] Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law on January 16, 1883.[26]

Aftermath

See also: Grover Cleveland § Reform

To the surprise of his critics, Arthur acted quickly to appoint the members of the newly created Civil Service Commission, naming reformers Dorman Bridgman Eaton, John Milton Gregory, and Leroy D. Thoman as commissioners.[14] The commission issued its first rules in May 1883; by 1884, half of all postal officials and three-quarters of the Customs Service jobs were to be awarded by merit.[29] During his first term, President Grover Cleveland expanded the number of federal positions subject to the merit system from 16,000 to 27,000. Partly due to Cleveland's efforts, between 1885 and 1897, the percentage of federal employees protected by the Pendleton Act would rise from twelve percent to approximately forty percent.[30] The act now covers about 90% of federal employees.[31]

Although state patronage systems and numerous federal positions were unaffected by the law, Karabell argues that the Pendleton Act was instrumental in the creation of a professional civil service and the rise of the modern bureaucratic state.[32] The law also caused major changes in campaign finance, as the parties were forced to look for new sources of campaign funds, such as wealthy donors.[33]

In January 1981, the Carter administration settled the court case Luévano v. Campbell, which alleged the Professional and Administrative Careers Examination (PACE) was racially discriminatory as a result of the lower average scores and pass rates achieved by Black and Hispanic test takers. As a result of this settlement agreement, PACE, the main entry-level test for candidates seeking positions in the federal government’s executive branch, was scrapped.[34] It has not been replaced by a similar general exam, although attempts at replacement exams have been made. The system which replaced the general PACE exam has been criticized as instituting a system of racial quotas, although changes to the settlement agreement under the Reagan administration removed explicit quotas, and these changes have "raised serious questions about the ability of the government to recruit a quality workforce while reducing adverse impact", according to Professor Carolyn Ban.[35][36]

In October 2020 President

Executive Order 13957 created a Schedule F classification in the excepted service of the United States federal civil service for policy-making positions, which was criticized by Professor Donald Kettl as violating the spirit of the Pendleton Act.[37] Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden rescinded Executive Order 13957.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ Searles, Harry; Mangus, Mike (April 9, 2012). George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889). Ohio Civil War Central. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  2. ^ Matthews, Dylan (July 20, 2016). "Donald Trump and Chris Christie are reportedly planning to purge the civil service". Vox. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  3. ^ Theriault, pp. 54–55.
  4. ^ Theriault, pp. 54–55, 60.
  5. ^ Paul, p. 71.
  6. ^ Davison, p. 164–165.
  7. ^ a b Hoogenboom, pp. 322–325; Davison, pp. 164–165; Trefousse, pp. 95–96.
  8. ^ Foner, Eric (1988). Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, p. 507. New York: Harper & Row.
  9. ^ Hoogenboom, pp. 353–355; Trefousse, pp. 100–101.
  10. ^ Hoogenboom, pp. 370–371.
  11. ^ Hoogenboom, pp. 382–384; Barnard, p. 456.
  12. ^ Paul, pp. 73–74.
  13. ^ "Digital History". www.digitalhistory.uh.edu.
  14. ^ a b Reeves 1975, pp. 325–327; Doenecke, pp. 102–104.
  15. ^ Karabell, pp. 104–107.
  16. ^ Theriault, p. 52.
  17. ^ a b Reeves 1975, pp. 320–324; Doenecke, pp. 96–97; Theriault, pp. 52–53, 56.
  18. ^ a b Karabell, pp. 106–107.
  19. ^ Ackerman 2003, pp. 305–308.
  20. ^ Reeves 1975, pp. 244–248; Karabell, pp. 61–63.
  21. ^ Karabell, pp. 62–63.
  22. ^ Reeves 1975, pp. 320–324; Doenecke, pp. 96–97.
  23. ^ Theriault, p. 56.
  24. ^ Doenecke, pp. 99–100; Karabell.
  25. ^ Theriault, pp. 57–59.
  26. ^ a b Reeves 1975, p. 324; Doenecke, pp. 101–102.
  27. ^ Theriault, pp. 59–60.
  28. ^ TO PASS S. 133, A BILL REGULATING AND IMPROVING THE U. S. CIVIL SERVICE. (J.P. 163). GovTrack.us. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  29. ^ Howe, pp. 209–210.
  30. ^ Welch, 59–61
  31. ^ Glass, Andrew (January 16, 2018). "Pendleton Act inaugurates U.S. civil service system, Jan. 16, 1883". Politico.
  32. ^ Karabell, pp. 108–111.
  33. ^ White 2017, pp. 467–468.
  34. ^ US set to replace a civil service exam
  35. ^ "Let Me Call You Quota, Sweetheart". May 1981.
  36. JSTOR 976250
    .
  37. ^ ‘Stunning’ Executive Order Would Politicize Civil Service
  38. ^ "Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce". January 22, 2021.

Works cited

Further reading

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