The Election of 1884

After James Abram Garfield’s assassination by a demented office seeker, cries for civil service reform grew louder, and President Chester Arthur responded by showing fair-mindedness and a commitment to reform, evinced by his signing the Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883, which established a system of competitive exams for federal office seekers. But when the election of 1884 came, the Republican Stalwarts felt that Arthur had betrayed them by pursuing civil service reform instead of richly rewarding fellow Stalwarts with jobs. Meeting in Chicago, Republicans turned to most popular, magnetic party leader of the Gilded Age, James G. Blaine of Maine. The Republicans found an even more sensational charge to pin on Cleveland. They found that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a widow in Buffalo. A furious rainstorm drenched the state on Election Day and kept many upstate farmers from polls, which helped the Democrats, who were able to turn out vote in the cities despite the elements.