Definition of the Pendleton Act - 19th Century History

Definition of the Pendleton Act - 19th Century History The Pendleton Act was a law passed by Congress, and signed by President Chester A. Arthur in January 1883, which reformed the federal government’s civil service system. A persistent problem, going back to the earliest days of the United States, had been the dispensing of federal jobs. Thomas Jefferson, in the earliest years of the 19th century, replaced some Federalists, who had attained their government jobs during the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, with people more closely aligned to his own  political views. Such replacements of government officials increasingly became standard practice under what became known as the Spoils System. In the era of Andrew Jackson, jobs in the federal government were routinely given to political supporters. And changes in administration could bring about widespread changes in federal personnel. This  system of political patronage became entrenched, and as the government grew, the practice eventually became a major problem. By the time of the Civil War, it was widely accepted that work for a political party entitled someone to a job on the public payroll. And there were often widespread reports of bribes being given to obtain jobs, and jobs being awarded to friends of politicians essentially as indirect bribes. President Abraham Lincoln routinely complained about office seekers who made demands on his time. A movement to reform the system of dispensing jobs began in the years following the Civil War, and some progress was made in the 1870s. However, the 1881 assassination of President James Garfield by a frustrated office seeker put the entire system into the spotlight and intensified calls for reform. Drafting of the Pendleton Act The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was named for its primary sponsor, Senator George Pendleton, a Democrat from Ohio. But it was primarily written by a noted attorney and crusader for civil service reform, Dorman Bridgman Eaton (1823-1899). During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, Eaton had been the head of the first civil service commission, which was intended to curb abuses and regulate the civil service. But the commission was not very effective. And when Congress cut off its funds in 1875, after only a few years of operation, its purpose was thwarted. In the 1870s Eaton had visited Britain and studied its civil service system. He returned to America and published a book about the British system which argued that Americans adopt many of the same practices. Garfield’s Assassination and Its Influence on the Law Presidents for decades had been annoyed by office-seekers. For instance, so many people looking for government jobs visited the White House during the administration of Abraham Lincoln that he built a special hallway he could use to avoid encountering them. And there are many stories about Lincoln complaining that he had to spend so much of his time, even at the height of the Civil War, dealing with people who traveled to Washington specifically to lobby for jobs. The situation got far more serious in 1881, when newly inaugurated President James Garfield was stalked by Charles Guiteau, who had been rebuffed after aggressively seeking a government job. Guiteau had even been ejected from the White House at one point when his attempts to lobby Garfield for a job became too aggressive. Guiteau, who appeared to suffer from mental illness, eventually approached Garfield in a Washington train station. He pulled out a revolver and shot the president in the back. The shooting of Garfield, which would eventually prove fatal, shocked the nation, of course. It was the second time in 20 years that a president had been murdered. And what seemed particularly outrageous was the idea that Guiteau had been motivated, at least in part, by his frustration at not obtaining a coveted job through the patronage system. The idea that the federal government had to eliminate the nuisance, and potential danger, of political office-seekers became an urgent matter. The Civil Service Reformed Proposals such as those put forward by Dorman Eaton were suddenly taken much more seriously. Under Eaton’s proposals, the civil service would award jobs based on merit examinations, and a civil service commission would oversee the process. The new law, essentially as drafted by Eaton, passed the Congress and was signed by President Chester Alan Arthur on January 16, 1883. Arthur appointed Eaton as the first chairman of the three-man Civil Service Commission, and he served in that post until he resigned in 1886. One unexpected feature of the new law was President Arthurs involvement with it. Prior to running for vice president on the ticket with Garfield in 1880, Arthur had never run for public office. Yet he had held political jobs for decades, obtained through the patronage system in his native New York. So a product of the patronage system took a major role in seeking to end it. The role played by Dorman Eaton was highly unusual: he was an advocate for civil service reform, drafted the law pertaining to it, and was ultimately given the job of seeing to its enforcement. The new law originally affected about 10 percent of the federal workforce, and had no impact on state and local offices. But over time the Pendleton Act, as it became known, was expanded a number of times to cover more federal workers. And the success of the measure at the federal level also inspired reforms by state and city governments.

Construction Industry Research Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Construction Industry Research - Article Example sought to debates theories infrequently presented by industry supporters about competition being either inapplicable or destructive in the construction industry (OECD Competition Committee, 2010). I agree with the author that construction is a pivotal industry in OECD markets since it develops and sustains the structures and substructures that nearly all other industries require. As a result, I was not surprised if found out at either of their theories about the irrelevance of competition in the construction industry were convincing to the author. A report-like approach by the other leads the OECD Competition Committee to discover the absence of discerning characteristics of the construction industry that lower the advantages that competition introduces to consumer welfare. However, I think the preliminary challenge that the committee should have tackled was focusing on teaching and training innovation as a holistic solution for improving competition in the construction sector. For instance, the article points out that China is aware of the importance of this solution to their cartel challenge in its construction sector. I also think that the articles should have ended with r ecommendations for the listed countries for dealing with the cartel challenges in their respective construction industries on top of the government’s

Business for multi national Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business for multi national - Essay Example There is a concept of separate legal identity which differentiates the assets of the company from its owners. However, in the case of Maxwell, the funds of different organizations were used by him as if they were his own money which is contradicting not only the ethical aspect, but also the accounting aspect of ownership and control. Maxwell should have only used the funds of the company; even those funds should have been used after the approval from board. Maxwell used the funds of pension funds which belonged to employees and used them as collateral. This is an open violation of agency theory. The theory states that the trustees or people who control the movement of funds are the agents acting on the behalf of the true owners of those resources and they should make the best possible decision for the resources that are entrusted to them. When the ownership and control are exercised in the disadvantage of the stakeholders than the relationship between the agents and principal is terminated. Then any loss accruing from the misuse of funds or resources accrues to the agent and not the principal. Maxwell’s share of loss in this case should have been larger and he should have been burdened with all the resources that were due to his actions as an agent acting without the consent of principal. Maxwell disadvantaged the other stakeholders for the benefit of his own company. This is again something that is unacceptable from the ethical point of view and also from the regulatory and business point of view. The stakeholders suffered and in the end, Maxwell and his company suffered badly also. However, the funds that were loss due to his carelessness were not recovered and it can be seen in this case that when agent does something on this own behalf he is probably using the motive of self interest. That is one reason why law makers have developed the concept of â€Å"Board of Directors† that have to be consulted with so that

Macroeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Macroeconomics - Essay Example The outcome of these models is a comprehensive understanding of the business cycles and the economic growth in the long run and the short run respectively. These results in turn help the government and the central bank of the economy to determine the policies that would be ideal for an economy in a particular scenario. The government of a country and the central bank act as the major policy making bodies in an economy and thus their roles in the molding of the economic system of a country are quite significant. This essay analyses some of the popular macroeconomic models that have been widely discussed over a long period of time. The analyses have been supported by the relevant figures, graphs and mathematical representations. However, before discussing the macroeconomic models it is essential to enumerate the basic concepts that would come up in any macroeconomic discussion. The most important macroeconomic variable is the national income of a country. It is the value added of the total goods and services produced in the specific duration of time. The total output translates to the income and therefore the national income is identified with the Gross Domestic Product of the economy (Arnold 113). The progress of an economy depends on the growth rate of this GDP. But there may not be a consistent level of growth in an economy. The variation in the growth rates are caused by the changes in the business cycles. The fall in the national product during any such cycle can be termed as recession. The other important variables include the rate of unemployment. This is the number of people in the economy who have the potential to get employed but have remained unemployed. On the other hand the increase in the price level of the economy is termed as inflation (Rossi 121). The monetary policy of an economy is a measure to control this

Pride and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Pride and Prejudice Essay The concept of love is developed and endured throughout an healthy relationship in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. She successfully incorporates different examples of marriage in nineteenth century and distinguishes the perfect marriage from the hopeless marriage. The definition of authentic love is caring for someone unconditionally. It means putting someone before yourself and not asking for anything in return. There are a variety of different examples of marriage in the novel, but Elizabeth, Jane, and Lydia’s marriages are the best examples of a perfect marriage, easily-influenced marriage ,and a hopeless marriage. It is emphasized that Elizabeth and Darcy will have the happiest marriage within the novel because of their commited relationship with each other. The perfect marriage between a man and a woman in the nineteenth century would probably be centered around Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage. Elizabeth’s character was always honest to herself and especially to others. Her defiant attitude made her stand out from the rest of the women according to Darcy. Although Elizabeth did not love Darcy at first, her loved developed through the ups and downs of their relationship. Once Darcy figured out that he could not win the heart of Elizabeth by lying and being prideful, he started to change for the better good of their relationship. Elizabeth fell head over heels for Darcy and accepted his proposal, â€Å"The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do† (Austen 200). Once she realized that he had a change of heart and his affectionate love for her was unconditional, Elizabeth knew that her marriage with Darcy would be one to last for a life time in complete and utter happiness. Love at first sight is not authentic in some cases. It takes time to love one another to recognize each others flaws and weaknesses. The ability to overcome our flaws and problems with our significant other helps us to develop authentic love with our partner. Jane and Bingley’s relationship was not produced over time, yet they knew that they were soul mates after two dances at the ball. The reason why Bingley came into town was to find a wife; â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife† (Austen 1). Their marriage and relationship will probably be amusing and entertaining in the beginning, but their marriage will sooner or later fall apart. Since they barely knew each others faults and weaknesses before they entered into marriage, their relationship might crumble because of the lack of stability each other has in their relationship. Jane and Bingley’s character are both described as innocent people in society. For example, Elizabeth describes Jane’s character as, â€Å"Affectation of candour is common enough— one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design— to take the good of everybodys character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad— belongs to you alone† (Austen 29). Rather than making their own decisions, they usually obey the commands of others and depend on other people’s judgments. The main reason why many people elope rather than marry into a relationship is due to the fact that they want to make their relationship official as soon as possible. A rushed marriage will only cause more problems because it is partially due to get it over with, or to hide their relationship from the people that they love. Lydia and Wickham’s marriage was an elopement rather than a real marriage. Both characters acted upon their foolishness instead of their heart and mind. Lydia’s character was described as, â€Å"Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. A flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! (Austen 156). Infatuation also played a huge part within Lydia’s relationship towards Wickham. He knew that he could easily sweep Lydia off her feet because she was the youngest and most immature one in the Bennet family. Wickham was self-indulgent in his plan to fancy Lydia. All Wickham ever wanted was money and pleasure, he did no care for Lydia as much due to his self-contempt. Since Wickham was in finnancial trouble with creditors, he made the foolish mistake of eloping with Lydia to get out of town. His decision proved that he did not care about Lydia’s reputation, but only himself’s. Although love may develop in a variety of ways, there should still be the distinction between infatuation and authentic love. Infatuation does not last as long as authentic love does, rather it sets a person up for heart breaks and instability. The elopement of Lydia and Wickham are the perfect example of infatuation because Lydia only loved Wickham for his devious ways of fancing her and Wickham only loved Lydia for her money and her being as an excuse to get out of town. Jane and Bingley’s marriage defined love, but not authentic love. They knew each other’s strengths and priorities, but they did not know each other’s flaws and weaknesses. Both Jane and Lydia’s marriage are the ones to be slightly less felicitous compared to Elizabeth’s marriage because they did not with hold the unconditional love that Darcy and Elizabeth had for each other. In order to have a healthy long-living marriage, both persons within the relationship need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and are willing to help one overcome their flaws. The love they should have for each other should be based upon the love that Darcy has for Elizabeth. He put Elizabeth before himself and his problems in order to prove his devotion towards her. Austen made Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship the ideal marriage in order to show society how a man and woman should love each other.

What Keeps Me From Writing Essay examples -- miscellaneous

What Keeps Me From Writing When I was a child I liked to write letters to my friends. I had a lot of pen-pals. Also, I had no problems with essays during my grade school years. I did not need much time to create an essay, or a journal, or something else for my writing class. The older I become, the more difficult it gets for me to write. Perhaps, I have more problems, needs, or other various things in my life that keep me from being able to focus on writing. Therefore, when I read â€Å"The Watcher at the Gates† by Gail Godwin, I saw myself there. In this essay, Godwin illustrates examples of many things that may be obstacles to some people to start writing. Also, she suggests several ways that may help people to overcome such a problem. Although I have different kind of excuses to not start writing, they all have the same meaning, purpose, and consequences as in Godwin’s essay: take me away from writing. There are some of my favorite excuses such as having no ideas to write about, other important things to do, and enough time before the deadline, that give me no good chance to begin writing. Still, I know that I must turn in my assignments on time, and this helps me to put aside these excuses. The first reason why I don’t sit down and write is that I don’t know what to write about. I just have nothing in my head to write about the particular topic. Often, I begin with a couple of sentences and stop because I don’t have good thoughts to continue. In these cases, begin to ...

The Australian Exchange Rate :: essays research papers fc

The Australian Exchange Rate Introduction: What factors affect the demand and supply of Australian dollars in the foreign exchange markets? Distinguish between the possible causes and effects of currency depreciation and a currency appreciation on the Australian economy. What forces have come into play, if any, in the past four months that have affected the value of the Australian dollar? Exchange Rate: â€Å"The rate at which one unit of domestic currency is exchanged for a given amount of foreign currency† A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR Until 1971, the Australian dollar (AUD) was â€Å"pegged† to the British pound. This meant that the AUD rose or fell in line with the pound. In 1971, the AUD became pegged to the US dollar instead. These currencies were fixed currencies, which meant that the Australian currency would only change value when a major world currency also changed. This system lasted only until 1974 when the AUD became pegged to a trade-weighted selection of other currencies. This was still a fixed currency. In 1976 this selection of currencies became moveable. Small shifts were able to take place when needed. In 1983 the AUD became a floating currency. This means that the value of the dollar is determined by supply and demand. Initially, the Reserve Bank of Australia was not intended to intervene in the market however since then it has been deemed necessary for intervention to take place, usually to prop up the price. FACTORS AFFECTING SUPPLY AND DEMAND OF AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS With a floating exchange rate, such as Australia’s, supply and demand factors largely determine the dollar’s equilibrium price. The exchange rate is sensitive to changes in both demand and supply, which can cause changes in the equilibrium exchange rate. Another factor, which can affect the supply and demand of Australian dollars, is intervention in the market by the Reserve Bank of Australia. DEMAND The demand for Australia’s currency in the foreign exchange market (Forex) is a derived demand. It is derived from the demand for a country’s exports of goods and services and its assets. In simple terms, people who may have a demand for the Australian dollar could include: _ Foreigners wanting to purchase Australian exports _ International tourists visiting Australia _ International investors wishing to purchase Australian shares or property _ International firms setting up branches or expanding in Australia _ Speculators and investors who think the value of the Australian dollar will rise in hope of making a profit.