Chester Arthur (1829-1886), 21st president of the United States (1881-1885), who gained the presidency when President James A. Garfield (1881) was assassinated.

Chester Arthur

INTRODUCTION

Chester Arthur (1829-1886), 21st president of the United States (1881-1885), who gained the presidency when President James A. Garfield (1881) was assassinated. Arthur rose above loyalty to his political party to enact the first comprehensive U.S. civil service legislation. The act signaled a new era of reform in national politics, but lost Arthur the support of his party, and after completing Garfield's term he was forced to retire from public life.

EARLY LIFE

Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont. He was the oldest son of William Arthur, an Irish-born Baptist minister and schoolteacher, and Malvina Stone Arthur. The family lived in several towns in Vermont and northern New York before they moved to Saratoga County, New York, in 1839. Young Arthur attended an academy at Union Village (now Greenwich), New York. At the academy and later in college, he was not considered an outstanding student. He was described as “genial in disposition” and “not an unusual member of his class ... an average boy.”

After Arthur graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1848, he studied law and taught in a local school. In 1852 he was appointed principal of an academy near Albany, New York, and a year later he moved to New York City to work in the law office of Erastus D. Culver, a friend of his father. In 1854 Arthur passed the bar exam and received his license to practice law. He quickly gained a reputation as a supporter of civil rights for blacks, and in 1855 won a case that guaranteed the rights of blacks to ride any streetcar in New York City. In 1856 he opened his own law practice.

III

EARLY CAREER

The young attorney was a striking figure. He was tall, with black eyes and brown hair, ruddy cheeks, and a high forehead. He went to the best tailors, always wore the latest fashions, and was considered well informed and amusing. He fell in love with Ellen Lewis Herndon, daughter of a naval officer, and they were married in 1859. The couple had a daughter, Ellen, and a son, Chester Alan, Jr.

One of Arthur's first encounters with politics came in 1844 when he joined other boys “shouting” in the streets for the Whig Party presidential candidate, Henry Clay. When Arthur first took a professional interest in politics, it was as a member of that party. In 1854 he attended the Anti-Nebraska Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York. The convention was called to protest against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had increased tensions between the North and the South by reopening the possibility of new slave-holding states. The people attending the convention laid the groundwork for the creation of the New York Republican Party, which was firmly opposed to the expansion of slave-holding territory.

In 1856 Arthur led the Fifteenth Ward Young Men's Frémont Vigilance Committee, which supported John C. Frémont as the Republican candidate for president of the United States. From then on, Arthur was an active member of the Republican Party.

In 1860 Arthur campaigned in New York City for presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. He also worked for the reelection of Edwin D. Morgan as governor of New York, and when Morgan won he appointed Arthur engineer in chief of his military staff, an honorary post.

Arthur took on considerable responsibility, however, at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. President Lincoln placed Governor Morgan in command of the New York volunteers for the Union Army, and the state was expected to recruit and equip the soldiers. Morgan first named Arthur inspector general, then quartermaster general, of the state militia. He supervised the equipping of more than 220,000 volunteers before 1863, when he resigned after a Democrat was elected governor.

After his return to private life, Arthur resumed his law practice in New York City and remained active in politics, making himself indispensable to the state Republican political machine run by U.S. Senator Roscoe Conkling. Political machines organized voters for the support of a candidate, and under what was called the spoils system, the most dedicated, loyal workers expected to be awarded government jobs in return for their services to the machine. In 1868 Conkling and his lieutenants supported General Ulysses S. Grant as the Republican candidate for president, and in 1871, Conkling persuaded President Grant to appoint Arthur collector of customs for the port of New York.

The New York Customhouse was a great political appointment. It handled about two-thirds of all U.S. customs receipts and had more than 1000 employees, each of whom owed his job to his allegiance to the Republican Party. While Arthur was the customs collector, the customhouse became a “fueling station” for Conkling's machine, and Arthur became the undisputed political leader of New York City. Although Arthur was personally honest, he overstaffed the customhouse with members of the Republican Party who worked diligently for the election of Republicans but were seldom seen at the customhouse itself.

In 1877 Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes, who had pledged civil service reform during his election campaign, ordered an investigation of the customhouse by an independent commission. Arthur and two aides were asked to resign “... for having regarded their offices as of subordinate importance to their partisan work.” Assured of Conkling's support in the Senate, Arthur and his associates refused. Hayes waited until the Congress of the United States adjourned in the summer of 1878 and then fired Arthur, giving the customs job to someone else who was later approved by the Senate. Arthur once again returned to his law practice in New York City.

Election of 1880

At the nominating convention of 1880 the Republican Party was split between Conkling's Stalwarts, strong believers in party loyalty above all else, and U.S. Senator James G. Blaine's Half-Breeds, those who believed in minor political reforms. The Stalwarts wanted to nominate former President Grant for a third term, while the Half-Breeds supported Blaine. The two factions were so evenly matched that neither candidate could gain the necessary majority. As a compromise, the party agreed on U.S. Senator James A. Garfield of Ohio, a Half-Breed. To gain the support of Conkling and his Stalwarts, the convention chose Arthur as the candidate for vice president.

In the campaign, the Democrats attacked Arthur's record as customs collector and his association with the Conkling political machine. Nevertheless, Garfield and Arthur won the election, taking majorities in most of the Northern states and in the electoral college. The total popular vote was very close. The Republicans won by less than 10,000 votes. Arthur was sworn in as vice president on March 4, 1881.

Vice President

Almost as soon as Garfield was inaugurated the question of patronage, the giving of government rewards for party loyalty, became a problem. The president appointed Half-Breeds to federal offices in New York, ignoring Conkling, who felt that he deserved to offer those jobs to his own supporters. Conkling and New York's other senator, Thomas Platt, resigned from the Senate to protest Garfield's appointments.

Vice President Arthur supported the New York senators and accompanied them to Albany, New York, where they asked the state legislature to give them a vote of confidence by reappointing them to the Senate. Despite Arthur's help, the legislature did not reappoint the two men. Conkling and Platt never again held public office.

In the middle of the political conflict, on July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker. Garfield died 11 weeks later, on September 19, 1881. The following morning, Arthur took the oath of office at his home in New York City.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Arthur's record of party loyalty greatly handicapped him when he became president. Remembering his support of the Conkling political machine and the words of Garfield's assassin, many Americans regarded Arthur as little more than Conkling's puppet. Arthur instead surprised his critics and dismayed many supporters by pursuing an independent course as president, positioning himself between the Republicans and the Democrats. His qualifications for the presidency were excellent: He was an experienced administrator; he had tact and common sense; and as a lawyer, he was well versed in constitutional law.

Arthur had to work with an almost evenly divided Congress, and it was difficult, if not impossible, to force the passage of any bill. Internal disputes were the major preoccupations of the federal government.

Yet it was in this highly-charged atmosphere that Arthur's administration secured its greatest achievement: a merit system in which some civil servants (government employees) received their jobs because of their skills rather than their political loyalties. Federal jobs traditionally were granted to reward loyalty and service to the political party in power, and political leaders fiercely guarded their right to appoint friends and supporters to government posts. The spoils system often allowed unworthy, incompetent, or dishonest people to hold positions of responsibility. Fraud and corruption often resulted.

An example of such corruption had come to light before Arthur became president. Post office officials had conspired with stagecoach operators to steal millions of dollars from the U.S. government, and Garfield's administration started prosecuting these so-called “Star Route Fraud” criminals. Arthur's administration surprised many by continuing the trials even though Arthur was a friend of one of the accused officials.

There were no convictions, but the trials did focus public attention on the evils of the spoils system. The scandal increased the demand for civil service reform that emerged after the assassination of Garfield. In 1881 Arthur urged Congress to create a system that would not take party affiliation into account when appointing people to government jobs, but Congress ignored the suggestion. In the short congressional session of 1882 and 1883, Arthur again supported a reform bill. Finally yielding to pressure from the public and from the National Civil Service Reform League, Congress passed the Pendleton Act, sponsored by Senator George H. Pendleton and drafted by Dorman B. Eaton, a leader of the reform movement. Arthur signed the bill in 1883.

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act created the Civil Service Commission, required competitive tests for some federal jobs and prohibited political tests for officeholders. Although symbolically important, the act only applied to about 14,000 of 131,000 federal employees. To demonstrate his support of the law, Arthur named Eaton the chairman of the Civil Service Commission. The spoils system was a long-established political tradition, however, and many of Arthur's followers angrily withdrew their support from the president when he signed the act. Despite this act of political independence, Arthur never attracted lasting support from reformers.

Arthur lost more political support by vetoing a rivers-and-harbors appropriation bill that he considered excessive. Congress overrode his veto of this bill and also his veto of a bill that would have excluded Chinese laborers from immigrating for 20 years and denied citizenship to U.S. residents of Chinese descent. He later signed a revised bill that limited exclusion to 10 years but retained the denial of citizenship.

Arthur was more successful in his dealings with Congress when he requested money to strengthen the U.S. Navy. After a long debate Congress authorized the construction of three steel cruisers and a dispatch boat. In 1885, before Arthur left office, Congress agreed to build four more vessels. This was a modest first step toward making the United States a major naval power.

LAST YEARS

Although he was secretly suffering from Bright's disease, an incurable kidney ailment, Arthur hoped to be nominated for a second term as president. Unfortunately, in 1882 the candidate whom Arthur and Conkling had chosen to run for governor of New York and whose support Arthur would need for his national campaign, was overwhelmingly defeated by Grover Cleveland. In addition, Arthur's determination to keep party considerations in the background did not help his chances.

At the Republican convention of 1884 the Half-Breeds favored Blaine, and many independents and reformers backed Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. Arthur polled only 207 votes against Blaine's decisive majority of 541. In the general election, Blaine lost to Cleveland, the Democratic candidate. Near the end of Arthur's term an effort to have the New York legislature elect him to the Senate also failed.

After turning over the White House to Grover Cleveland on March 4, 1885, Arthur again resumed his law practice in New York City. Shortly afterward he became ill, and he died on November 18, 1886.

quick facts

Chester Alan Arthur

21st president of the United States

Birth	October 5, 1829
Death	November 18, 1886
Home State	New York
Party	Republican
Term In Office	1881-1885
Vice President	None
Significant Acts	Restricted Chinese immigration to the United States through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
	Achieved civil service reform with the signing of the Pendleton Act of 1883.
	Supported increased funding for the U.S. Navy, helping to initiate its growth into a major military force.
Career	1871-1878 Collector of the New York Customhouse.
	1878 Fired as custom house collector.
	March 4, 1881-September 19, 1881 Vice president of the United States under James Garfield.
	1881-1885 President of the United States.
Did You Know	Chester Arthur was fond of fine clothes and entertainment, earning him the nicknames 'Dude President,' 'Elegant Arthur,' and 'Prince Arthur.'
	As a young lawyer, Arthur won a case that guaranteed the right of blacks to ride New York City streetcars.

Chester Arthur’s Cabinet

Title

Name

Took Office

President	Chester A. Arthur	1881
Vice President	-
Secretary of State	Frederick T. Frelinghuysen	1881
Secretary of War	Robert T. Lincoln	1881
Secretary of the Treasury	William Windom Charles J. Folger Walter Q. Gresham Hugh McCulloch	Mar. 1881 Nov. 1881 Sept. 1884 Oct. 1884
Postmaster General	Timothy O. Howe Walter Q. Gresham Frank Hatton	1882 1883 1884
Attorney General	Benjamin H. Brewster	1882
Secretary of the Navy	William H. Hunt William E. Chandler	1881 1882
Secretary of the Interior	Samuel J. Kirkwood Henry M. Teller	1881 1882

World Events 1881-1885

Date

Event

1882	German scientist Robert Koch discovers the bacillus that causes tuberculosis.
1882	American outlaw Jesse James is murdered by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang.
1882	The Triple Alliance between Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany is formed.
1883	Standard time is introduced by international agreement, dividing the earth into 24 time zones.
1884	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American novelist Mark Twain is published.

Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
	President	Term of office	Vice president
1	George Washington	1789-1797	John Adams
2	John Adams	1797-1801	Thomas Jefferson
3	Thomas Jefferson	1801-1809	Aaron Burr (1801-1805) George Clinton (1805-1809)
4	James Madison	1809-1817	George Clinton (1809-1812) Elbridge Gerry (1813-1814)
5	James Monroe	1817-1825	Daniel D. Tompkins
6	John Quincy Adams	1825-1829	John C. Calhoun
7	Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)
8	Martin Van Buren	1837-1841	Richard M. Johnson
9	William Henry Harrison	1841	John Tyler
10	John Tyler	1841-1845	(no vice president)
11	James Knox Polk	1845-1849	George M. Dallas
12	Zachary Taylor	1849-1850	Millard Fillmore
13	Millard Fillmore	1850-1853	(no vice president)
14	Franklin Pierce	1853-1857	William R. King (1853)
15	James Buchanan	1857-1861	John C. Breckinridge
16	Abraham Lincoln	1861-1865	Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) Andrew Johnson (1865)
17	Andrew Johnson	1865-1869	(no vice president)
18	Ulysses Simpson Grant	1869-1877	Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873) Henry Wilson (1873-1875)
19	Rutherford Birchard Hayes	1877-1881	William A. Wheeler
20	James Abram Garfield	1881	Chester A. Arthur
21	Chester Alan Arthur	1881-1885	(no vice president)
22	Grover Cleveland	1885-1889	Thomas A. Hendricks (1885)
23	Benjamin Harrison	1889-1893	Levi P. Morton
24	Grover Cleveland	1893-1897	Adlai E. Stevenson
25	William McKinley	1897-1901	Garret A. Hobart (1897-1899) Theodore Roosevelt (1901)
26	Theodore Roosevelt	1901-1909	Charles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)
27	William Howard Taft	1909-1913	James S. Sherman (1909-1912)
28	Woodrow Wilson	1913-1921	Thomas R. Marshall
29	Warren Gamaliel Harding	1921-1923	Calvin Coolidge
30	Calvin Coolidge	1923-1929	Charles G. Dawes (1925-1929)
31	Herbert Clark Hoover	1929-1933	Charles Curtis
32	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	1933-1945	John N. Garner (1933-1941) Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945) Harry S. Truman (1945)
33	Harry S. Truman	1945-1953	Alben W. Barkley (1949-1953)
34	Dwight David Eisenhower	1953-1961	Richard M. Nixon
35	John Fitzgerald Kennedy	1961-1963	Lyndon B. Johnson
36	Lyndon Baines Johnson	1963-1969	Hubert H. Humphrey (1965-1969)
37	Richard Milhous Nixon	1969-1974	Spiro T. Agnew (1969-1973) Gerald R. Ford (1973-1974)
38	Gerald Rudolph Ford	1974-1977	Nelson A. Rockefeller
39	James Earl Carter	1977-1981	Walter F. Mondale
40	Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	George H. W. Bush
41	George H. W. Bush	1989-1993	Dan Quayle
42	William Jefferson Clinton	1993-2001	Albert Gore, Jr.
43	George W. Bush	2001-	Dick Cheney