Pendleton Act

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The Pendleton Act is a federal law passed in 1883 reforming the civil service and establishing the United States Civil Service Commission. It ended the spoils system of political patronage and established competitive examinations for hiring civil servants.[1]

Background

The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 established the spoils system, in which federal civil service jobs went to political supporters, party members, family, and friends of the winning administration. Following the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881 by a disgruntled job-seeker, public support grew for civil service reform. The new President, Chester Arthur, who had been Garfield's Vice-President, signed the Pendleton Act into law in 1883.[2]

Provisions

United States Civil Service Commission

The act established the United States Civil Service Commission as a nonpartisan federal agency to oversee the hiring of federal civil servants. The commission consisted of three members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, not more than two of whom could be members of the same political party.[1]

The primary duty of the Commission was to create and administer standardized competency examinations for civil service job candidates. The Commission also appointed a Chief Examiner to coordinate the activities of state and territorial examination boards, which were modeled after the federal commission. Finally, the act authorized the federal commission to promulgate rules and regulations for the performance of its duties, which were to be published in an annual report to the President and Congress (rulemaking was not fully standardized and centralized until the passage of the Administrative Procedure Act, after which all regulations were published in the Federal Register).[1]

Ban on Patronage

The act took several steps to eliminate political patronage in the civil service. Besides requiring exams, it also instructed the Commission to apportion civil service appointments among the states and territories according to their population. Any examiner who unfairly aided or injured a candidate's chances, or altered the results of an exam, would be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fines or imprisonment. No Senator or Representative could make a recommendation to hire a candidate, they could only offer character references. Finally, the act held that only two members of the same could serve in the civil service at the same time.[1]

Ban on Political Activity by Civil Servants

The act prohibited civil servants from using federal money or buildings for political purposes. It also banned them from coercing a subordinate to make any sort of political donation or action. Section 14 of the act issued a blanket ban on payments by civil servants to other civil servants to obtain political favors.

“ That no officer, clerk, or other person in the service of the United States shall, directly or indirectly, give or hand over to any other officer, clerk, or person in the service of the United States...any money or other valuable thing on account of or to be applied to the promotion of any political object whatever.[1][3] ”


Amending statutes

Below is a partial list of subsequent laws that amended provisions of the Pendleton Act:

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 OurDocuments.gov, "Pendleton Act (1883)," accessed January 3, 2018
  2. ↑ OurDocuments.gov, "Pendleton Act (1883)," accessed January 3, 2018
  3. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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