Origins
Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont, the fifth of nine children born to William Arthur, a Baptist minister who had emigrated from Ireland, and Malvina Stone Arthur. The family moved frequently throughout Vermont and upstate New York during Arthur’s childhood, following his father’s ministerial assignments. Arthur attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, graduating in 1848, and subsequently studied law while working as a schoolteacher. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1854 and joined a law firm in New York City, where he participated in notable civil rights cases, including the successful defense of Elizabeth Jennings Graham, an African American woman denied seating on a streetcar. Arthur’s early legal career demonstrated both his professional ambition and his engagement with reform causes characteristic of antebellum northern Republicans.
Arthur’s political rise was inextricably linked to New York’s Republican machine politics and the patronage system. He became associated with Senator Roscoe Conkling’s Stalwart faction and received appointment as Collector of the Port of New York in 1871, a position that controlled approximately one thousand jobs and represented the largest source of federal patronage in the nation. Arthur held this lucrative post until 1878, when President Rutherford B. Hayes removed him as part of civil service reform efforts. Despite this setback, Arthur remained influential in Republican circles. At the 1880 Republican National Convention, he was selected as James A. Garfield’s running mate to balance the ticket and placate Conkling’s Stalwarts after the nomination of the Half-Breed candidate. Arthur assumed the presidency on September 20, 1881, following Garfield’s death from an assassin’s bullet, amid widespread concern that a machine politician would now occupy the executive mansion.
Presidency
Arthur’s domestic presidency confounded expectations by embracing the very civil service reform movement that threatened machine politics. The assassination of Garfield by a disappointed office-seeker, Charles Guiteau, generated public outrage that Arthur channeled into support for the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which established a merit-based system for federal employment and created the Civil Service Commission. Arthur signed this landmark legislation despite opposition from his former Stalwart allies. His administration also addressed tariff policy, though the Mongrel Tariff of 1883 produced only modest rate reductions despite Arthur’s advocacy for more substantial reform. Arthur vetoed the Chinese Exclusion Act’s initial twenty-year ban on Chinese immigration, though he signed a revised version imposing a ten-year restriction. He also vetoed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1882, objecting to its excessive appropriations, though Congress overrode this veto.
Arthur’s foreign policy reflected growing American commercial interests abroad while avoiding major conflicts. His administration negotiated treaties with several Latin American nations and supported efforts to modernize the United States Navy, beginning construction of steel-hulled vessels that would eventually replace the aging wooden fleet. Arthur convened a Pan-American conference proposal, though it would not materialize until Benjamin Harrison’s administration. His administration also negotiated modifications to existing treaties with China regarding immigration and addressed complications arising from American interests in Korea. The administration pursued a cautious approach to international affairs, focusing on commercial expansion rather than territorial acquisition.
Historical Significance
Arthur left office in March 1885 having transformed his public reputation from spoilsman to reformer. He had sought the Republican nomination for a full term in 1884 but was passed over in favor of James G. Blaine, partly due to his reform agenda alienating traditional machine supporters and partly because of declining health that Arthur kept largely hidden from the public. His successor, Democrat Grover Cleveland, continued and expanded civil service reform efforts that Arthur had initiated. Arthur died on November 18, 1886, from Bright’s disease, which he had concealed throughout his presidency.
Historians have generally reassessed Arthur favorably, though his reputation remains modest. Once dismissed as an accidental president emerging from corrupt machine politics, Arthur is now credited with demonstrating unexpected independence and integrity. His support for civil service reform represented a significant departure from his political past and contributed to lasting institutional changes in federal employment practices. Scholar Thomas Reeves characterized Arthur as rising above his origins to become a respectable if not distinguished president. His presidency illustrated how the office itself could transform its occupant and demonstrated the possibilities for reform during the Gilded Age’s complex political landscape.
Key Developments
- October 5, 1829: Born in Fairfield, Vermont, to William and Malvina Arthur
- October 25, 1859: Married Ellen Lewis Herndon in New York City
- November 1871: Appointed Collector of the Port of New York by President Grant
- July 11, 1878: Removed as Collector by President Hayes amid reform efforts
- November 2, 1880: Elected Vice President alongside James A. Garfield
- September 20, 1881: Assumed presidency following Garfield’s death from assassination wounds
- May 6, 1882: Signed revised Chinese Exclusion Act restricting immigration for ten years
- January 16, 1883: Signed Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act establishing merit-based federal employment
- March 3, 1883: Signed Mongrel Tariff reducing some import duties
- June 1884: Lost Republican presidential nomination to James G. Blaine
- March 4, 1885: Left office; succeeded by Grover Cleveland
- November 18, 1886: Died in New York City from Bright’s disease