Chester A. Arthur
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| Chester A. Arthur | |
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| Name | Chester A. Arthur |
| Order | 21st |
| Office | President of the United States |
| Term start | September 19, 1881 |
| Term end | March 4, 1885 |
| Vicepresident | None |
| Predecessor | James A. Garfield |
| Successor | Grover Cleveland |
| Order2 | 20th |
| Office2 | Vice President of the United States |
| Term start2 | March 4, 1881 |
| Term end2 | September 19, 1881 |
| President2 | James A. Garfield |
| Predecessor2 | William A. Wheeler |
| Successor2 | Thomas A. Hendricks |
| Office3 | Collector of the Port of New York |
| Term start3 | 1871 |
| Term end3 | 1878 |
| Appointed3 | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Predecessor3 | Thomas Murphy |
| Successor3 | Edwin Atkins Merritt |
| Birth date | October 5, 1829 |
| Birth place | Fairfield, Vermont |
| Death date | November 18, 1886 (aged 57) |
| Death place | New York City |
| Party | Republican (1854–1886) |
| Otherparty | Whig (before 1854) |
| Spouse | Ellen Lewis Herndon, 1859, 1880 |
| Children | 3, including Chester Alan Arthur II |
| Education | Union College (BA) |
| Profession | Lawyer, Civil service |
| Signature alt | Cursive signature in ink |
Chester A. Arthur was an American lawyer and politician who served as the twenty-first President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He assumed the presidency upon the death of James A. Garfield, having previously served as the twentieth Vice President of the United States for just over six months. His administration is best known for signing the landmark Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which began the transformation of the federal civil service from a spoils system to a merit-based system.
Early life and education
He was born in the small town of Fairfield, Vermont, to William Arthur, a Baptist preacher from Ireland, and Malvina Stone. His family moved frequently throughout Vermont and upstate New York before settling in the Schenectady area. He attended Union College in Schenectady, graduating in 1848, and briefly taught school before moving to New York City to study law. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1854 after completing his legal studies at the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York.
Early career and Civil War service
He established a successful law practice in New York City, often taking on civil rights cases, including representing Elizabeth Jennings Graham in a suit that led to the desegregation of New York City streetcars. An early member of the Republican Party, he became active in state politics and served on the staff of Governor Edwin D. Morgan. During the American Civil War, he held the position of Quartermaster general for the State of New York, responsible for equipping and supplying over 100,000 Union Army troops from the state, a role that demonstrated his considerable administrative skill.
New York politics and the Collector
A loyal member of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party led by Roscoe Conkling, he was rewarded for his political service with an appointment by President Ulysses S. Grant as Collector of the Port of New York in 1871. This was one of the most powerful and lucrative patronage positions in the federal government, overseeing the New York Custom House and hundreds of employees. His tenure was marked by efficiency but also by allegations of political patronage and corruption, leading to his suspension by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878 as part of a reform effort.
Vice presidency (1881)
In 1880, the Republican National Convention nominated him for Vice President of the United States as a compromise to unite the Stalwart faction behind the presidential nominee, James A. Garfield, a Half-Breed reformer. The Garfield-Arthur ticket won a narrow victory over the Democratic ticket of Winfield Scott Hancock and William H. English. His brief tenure as vice president was uneventful and largely ceremonial, presiding over the United States Senate until the crisis of President Garfield's assassination in July 1881.
Presidency (1881–1885)
He took the oath of office on September 20, 1881, at his home in New York City following Garfield's death. Defying the expectations of his Stalwart allies, he embraced civil service reform, signing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883. His administration also modernized the United States Navy with the construction of new steel warships, oversaw the first federal immigration law (the Chinese Exclusion Act), and reduced the federal debt through tariff revenues. He vetoed the controversial River and Harbors Act of 1882, though Congress overrode his veto.
Post-presidency and death
Suffering from Bright's disease, a serious kidney ailment, he did not seek renomination at the 1884 Republican National Convention, which selected James G. Blaine. He returned to New York City and resumed his law practice, though his health continued to decline rapidly. He died at his home from a cerebral hemorrhage in November 1886. His funeral was held at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan, and he was buried beside his wife, Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, in the Arthur family plot at Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York.
Category:Presidents of the United States Category:Vice presidents of the United States