The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was important because it changed the way that people were able to get some government jobs. For many years, government jobs were awarded based on the spoils system. With this system, people got government jobs based on whom they knew or which candidate they supported instead of being based on the merit of the person seeking the job. After a person who was unhappy he didn’t get a government job assassinated James Garfield, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed.
This law required that some government jobs be awarded to people based on merit. These people had to take a test to determine if they were capable of doing the job. It also made it illegal to remove a federal worker from a civil service job for political reasons. It is also illegal to require a federal employee to give contributions to a political campaign. When this law was passed, it covered about ten percent of the federal government’s jobs. Now, civil service covers about ninety percent of the federal government’s jobs.
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