CLEP US History II

Answer: E - Chester A. Arthur signed the Pendleton Act into law in 1883, putting an end to the spoils system. Arthur assumed the presidency following the 1881 assassination of President James A. Garfield at the hands of a disgruntled federal office seeker. Garfield’s assassination was the primary catalyst for the Pendleton Act. Prior to the assassination, Arthur was a habitual perpetrator of spoils appointments, but he was reformed by the nature of his predecessor’s death. Arthur, somewhat ironically, came to be remembered for civil service reform, though he was a well-known spoils man prior to his presidency.