Primary Sources: U.S. Presidents

"The papers of Chester Alan Arthur (1829-1886), who became the twenty-first president of the United States in 1881 after James A. Garfield’s assassination, consist of 4,400 items (7,667 images), most of which were digitized from 10 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years 1843-1960, with the bulk dating from 1870 to 1888, the collection contains correspondence, financial papers, scrapbooks, clippings, and other papers relating to Arthur’s presidency, his service as collector of customs for the Port of New York, and his work with the New York Republican State Committee."

"Approved on January 16, 1883, the Pendleton Act established a merit-based system of selecting government officials and supervising their work."

December 6, 1881, December 4, 1882, December 4, 1883, and December 1, 1884