As the economy soured after the Panic of 1873, Chinese immigrants were blamed for depressing workmen's wages; in reaction Congress in 1879 attempted to abrogate the 1868 treaty by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act, but President Hayes vetoed it. At the outset, Arthur struggled to overcome a negative reputation as a Stalwart and product of Conkling's organization. Chester A. Arthur served as America's twenty-first president from September 19, 1881, to March 4, 1885. [109], Garfield and his supporters knew they would face a difficult election without the support of the New York Stalwarts and decided to offer one of them the vice presidential nomination. All Rights Reserved. [201] The second vacancy occurred when Associate Justice Ward Hunt retired in January 1882. [37] During his winter breaks, he served as a teacher at a school in Schaghticoke. [158] On August 1, 1882, Arthur vetoed the bill to widespread popular acclaim;[158] in his veto message, his principal objection was that it appropriated funds for purposes "not for the common defense or general welfare, and which do not promote commerce among the States. [60] In the presidential election of 1864, Arthur and Murphy raised funds from Republicans in New York, and they attended the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. [164] Legislation required to bring the treaty into force failed in the House, however, rendering it a dead letter. [79] He was also popular within the Republican party as he efficiently collected campaign assessments from the staff and placed party leaders' friends in jobs as positions became available. 9. [166] He also signed in August of that year the Immigration Act of 1882, which levied a 50-cent tax on immigrants to the United States, and excluded from entry the mentally ill, the intellectually disabled, criminals, or any other person potentially dependent upon public assistance. Arthur left office in 1885 and returned to his New York City home. [148] Failure to obtain a conviction tarnished the administration's image, but Arthur did succeed in putting a stop to the fraud. [169] The bill passed the Senate and House by overwhelming margins, but this as well was vetoed by Arthur, who concluded the 20-year ban to be a breach of the renegotiated treaty of 1880. "[36] During his time at school, he gained his first political inclinations and supported the Whig Party. "[5] Mark Twain wrote of him, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration. After the American Civil War, the U.S. Navy had faced serious challenges and by the 1880s was in disrepair. [102][103] In the state elections of 1879, he and Conkling worked to ensure that the Republican nominees for state offices would be men of Conkling's faction, who had become known as Stalwarts. [175], Chandler appointed an advisory board to prepare a report on modernization, whose goal was to create a Navy that would protect America thousands of miles away, rather than just coastal waters. [88] Sherman was less enthusiastic about the reforms than Hayes and Jay, but he approved the commission's report and ordered Arthur to make the personnel reductions. He succeeded James Garfield who had been assassinated in 1881. "[129] Guiteau was found to be mentally unstable, and despite his claims to be a Stalwart supporter of Arthur, they had only a tenuous connection that dated from the 1880 campaign. Congress passes the Edmunds Act, which excludes bigamists and polygamists from voting and holding office, and establishes a five-man Utah commission to supervise voting in the territory of Utah. Arthur made appointments to fill two vacancies on the United States Supreme Court. His most famous case was his suit against a . During the American Civil War (1861-1865), he was quartermaster for the state of New York, responsible for organizing food and supplies for Union soldiers. [33][f][34], Arthur spent some of his childhood years living in the New York towns of York, Perry, Greenwich, Lansingburgh, Schenectady, and Hoosick. Arthur also worked to outlaw polygamy in Utah, opposed the exclusion of Chinese and modernized the Navy. [155] Opinions varied on how to balance the budget; the Democrats wished to lower tariffs, in order to reduce revenues and the cost of imported goods, while Republicans believed that high tariffs ensured high wages in manufacturing and mining. So too, as it turns out, is the New York City house in which Arthur was sworn in as president, and died just five . In his first annual presidential address to Congress in 1881, Arthur requested civil service reform legislation and Pendleton again introduced his bill, but Congress did not pass it. It was an incredibly strict anti-immigration law that was designed to keep Chinese labor out of the American market. [135], Arthur arrived in Washington, D.C. on September 21. Major events during the Arthur administration included, civil service reform, an effort to combat postal fraud, unsuccessful tries at meaningful tariff reform and wasteful spending. Arthur became a member of the New York State Militia in the late 1850s, although he never saw combat. The concept of a cigar-store Indian installed in the White House was finally a reassurance to the frightened American people. [203] Instead, Arthur nominated Samuel Blatchford, who had been a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for the prior four years. Arthur vetoes the Carriage of Passengers at Sea Bill, a steamboat safety bill, claiming that it contains several major technical errors. He was a member of the ultra exclusive Restigouche Salmon Club. The Senate ratifies the Geneva Convention of 1864 for the care of wounded war personnel. [144] Navy Secretary William H. Hunt was next to resign, in April 1882, and Arthur attempted a more balanced approach by appointing Half-Breed William E. Chandler to the post, on Blaine's recommendation. He also oversaw the establishment of the Naval War College and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Arthur was a member of the Republican Party. (5) $55.11. [181] Since the end of Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats (or "Bourbon Democrats") had regained power in the South, and the Republican party dwindled rapidly as their primary supporters in the region, blacks, were disenfranchised. Although he campaigned for Garfield and helped get him elected, Arthur broke with Garfield after the election. The family finally settled in the Schenectady, New York area. [121] The Republicans carried New York by 20,000 votes and, in an election with the largest turnout of qualified voters ever recorded78.4%they won the nationwide popular vote by just 7,018 votes. He served four terms in Congress but left in 1843 to mount an unsuccessful run for the governorship of New read more. By U.S. News Staff. Although Chester Arthur had risen to power through machine politics, once in the White House he surprised Americans (and alienated Conkling and other supporters) by moving past partisanship. [55], Arthur returned to practicing law, and with the help of additional contacts made in the military, he and the firm of Arthur & Gardiner flourished. [10] William Arthur also spent a brief time studying law, but while still in Waterville, he departed from both his legal studies and his Presbyterian upbringing to join the Free Will Baptists; he spent the rest of his life as a minister in that sect. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Physician keeps Presidents disease secret, Proclamation against settlement in Oklahoma, Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity. During Chester Arthurs childhood, his family moved around Vermont and upstate New York for his fathers work. [158] While Arthur was not opposed to internal improvements, the scale of the bill disturbed him, as did its narrow focus on "particular localities," rather than projects that benefited a larger part of the nation. The rest of 1862 Arthur was busier than ever, working seven days a week in the Union cause. Chester Alan Arthur (1829-1886) 1829, Oct. 5 Born, Fairfield, Vermont, to William Arthur (1796-1875) and Malvina Stone Arthur (1802-1869). The original designer, John Roebling, died of an infection caused by an injury he received only days after having secured permission to begin his project. Although he still objected to this denial of entry to Chinese laborers, Arthur acceded to the compromise measure, signing the Chinese Exclusion Act into law on May 6, 1882. James Garfield (1831-81) was sworn in as the 20th U.S. president in March 1881 and died in September of that same year from an assassins bullet, making his tenure in office the second-shortest in U.S. presidential history, after William Henry Harrison (1773-1841). Arthur succeeded the presidency upon Garfield's death in September 1881two months after being shot by an assassin. [200] The Senate confirmed the nomination but, as expected, Conkling declined it,[200] the last time a confirmed nominee declined an appointment. [151] In just two years' time, an unrepentant Stalwart had become the president who ushered in long-awaited civil service reform. Chester A. Arthur 21st United States President Previous Next In office Sep. 19, 1881 - Mar. Although Garfield initially survived the shooting, he battled infections and died two months later, at age 49, on September 19. It was widely evaded. [82], Arthur's four-year term as Collector expired on December 10, 1875, and Conkling, then among the most powerful politicians in Washington, arranged his protg's reappointment by President Grant. [153] The commission issued its first rules in May 1883; by 1884, half of all postal officials and three-quarters of the Customs Service jobs were to be awarded by merit. A sharp dressed man 9. The most important events of his administration were the passage of the Tariff Act of 1883 and of the "Edmunds Law" prohibiting polygamy in the territories, and the completion of three great transcontinental railways -- the Southern Pacific, the Northern Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. 1. The son of a Baptist preacher who had emigrated from northern Ireland, Chester A. Arthur was America's 21st President (1881-85), succeeding President James Garfield upon his assassination. Elected to the vice presidency in 1880, Arthur became president after Garfield died following an assassination attempt by a disgruntled job seeker. President Arthur became known as the ''Father of the Steel Navy'' as he pushed for the military to use new steel technology in building and expanding its capabilities. Arthur, in turn, gave government jobs to Conklings supporters, who contributed part of their salaries to the Republican Party. In the White House, Arthur became known for his sartorial style and taste for fine furnishings. Born in Fairfield, Vermont, on October 5, 1829, Arthur was an educator, lawyer, and army officer before being appointed as customs collector of the Port of New York (1871-78). The act is designed to ban companies from importing immigrant workers to break strikes and drive down wages. Burt. He is the only president to date who served two non-consecutive terms, and also the only Democratic president to win election during the period of Republican read more, Departing from the monarchical tradition of Britain, the founding fathers of the United States created a system in which the American people had the power and responsibility to select their leader. The act also forbade workers from being fired for political reasons and prohibited compulsory political donations from employees. I have gained a better understanding of the American political system as well as the history of the system. [162] Blaine did not remain in office long enough to see the effort through, and when Frederick T. Frelinghuysen replaced him at the end of 1881, the conference efforts lapsed. His father was a preacher. [218], Arthur's unpopularity in life carried over into his assessment by historians and his reputation after leaving office disappeared. [195], As the 1884 presidential election approached, James G. Blaine was considered the favorite for the Republican nomination, but Arthur, too, contemplated a run for a full term as president. [43] In Lemmon v. New York, Culver argued that, as New York law did not permit slavery, any slave arriving in New York was automatically freed. Chester Arthur Franklin was a leading African American editor and publisher of the Kansas City Call, who used his newspaper platform to advocate for systemic change and equity, both for Kansas City's black community and for African Americans nationwide. To satisfy the Stalwart faction, delegates chose New York Customs House collector Chester A. Arthur (1829-86) as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Major Events During Arthur's Presidency As president, Chester A. Arthur achieved four major things: Civil Service Reform Limiting Immigration Building a Modern Navy Arthur also. 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