Chester Arthur Facts & Worksheets

• Arthur then turned his attention to politics in New York, where he was the chairman of the Republican Executive Committee and helped get candidates who were in line with the Stalwart faction elected. During this time, Arthur’s wife died suddenly, which had a huge effect on him.

Election and Vice Presidency

• Arthur and the New York Stalwarts, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, tried to get former President Ulysses S. Grant the Republican presidential nomination in 1880. The Half-Breeds, on the other hand, supported Senator James G. Blaine of Maine, who was more in favour of changing the civil service. The convention chose James A. Garfield as the nominee after thirty-six ballots failed to get a majority for either candidate. Garfield was a compromise candidate. Garfield’s team knew how important New York’s support was, so they offered Arthur the vice-presidential nomination. 
• Arthur accepted, even though Conkling had told him not to. Arthur helped the campaign by raising money and overseeing efforts in New York. This helped the Republicans win a close race against Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock.
• When Arthur became vice president in March 1881, his power decreased because Garfield kept Stalwarts out of important patronage jobs.
• Arthur did his constitutional duty in the Senate, like breaking ties for committee leadership, but he did not have many other duties while Garfield and the Senate were on break. When Charles J. Guiteau killed Garfield in July 1881, it caused confusion about who was in charge because Arthur did not want to act while the president was still alive. Arthur was sworn in right away at his New York home after Garfield died on 19 September 1881. This made sure that the government would continue to run smoothly. Arthur also took steps to make sure that the line of presidential succession was safe, such as organising a special Senate session.

Presidency of Chester Arthur

• On 21 September 1881, Chester Alan Arthur arrived in Washington, D.C. The next day, he took the presidential oath again in front of Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite to make sure he was following all federal rules. At first, Arthur lived in Senator John P. Jones’s house while the White House was being remodelled. He relied on his sister, Mary Arthur McElroy, to be the White House hostess, keep things in order, and keep the press away from his kids. He quickly ran into problems with Garfield’s cabinet, many of whom were members of rival groups.
• William Windom, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Wayne MacVeagh, the Attorney General, both quit, which led Arthur to appoint allies and moderate reformers to the cabinet. This kept the demands of the factions in check while gradually replacing cabinet members.
• Arthur had to deal with both long-standing political patronage and new calls for civil service reform. He kept looking into postal fraud scandals, fired sympathetic officeholders, and backed prosecutions, which helped stop systemic abuses even though he didn’t win many cases in court. After Garfield was killed, there was a lot of public pressure for change. This led to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which Arthur actively carried out by appointing reformers to the Civil Service Commission. This made sure that federal jobs were filled based on merit.
• Arthur talked about the federal surplus and tariff structure when it came to economic policy. He pushed for moderate cuts to the excise tax and oversaw the creation of a tariff commission, but actual cuts were limited by congressional compromise. He vetoed the Rivers and Harbours Act of 1882 because he thought the money was being spent wrong, but Congress went ahead with it anyway.
• He pushed for trade agreements that benefited both sides, especially with Mexico. He also oversaw laws that controlled immigration, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Immigration Act of 1882. Arthur put a lot of emphasis on modernising the navy. He backed Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler’s reforms, which included building the ABCD steel cruisers, and he also supported scientific projects like the Lady Franklin Bay Arctic Expedition.
• He worked with Southern reformers like Virginia’s Readjusters to fight for civil rights, stepped in to help with racially biased military cases, and supported Garfield’s anti-polygamy stance with the 1882 Edmunds Act. He also pushed for limited education and land policies for Native Americans. Health issues led to restorative trips, especially to Yellowstone. 
• Arthur thought about running for president in 1884, but he dropped out because he did not have enough support. He chose Horace Grey and Samuel Blatchford to be judges on the Supreme Court, but he turned down Conkling and Edmunds’ nominations.

Post Presidency and Death of Chester Arthur

• Arthur went back to New York City after leaving office in 1885 and started working part-time at his old law firm, Arthur, Knevals & Ransom. New York Stalwarts tried to get him to run for a seat in the US Senate, but he turned them down because he wanted to stay out of the public eye. His health was getting worse, mostly because of Bright’s disease, which limited his work and public activities. He mostly worked as an advisor. Arthur came home very sick in the summer of 1886 after spending time in New London, Connecticut.
• On 16 November 1886, he told people to burn most of his personal and official papers. He had a brain haemorrhage the next day and died on 18 November 1886, at the age of 57.
• President Grover Cleveland and former President Rutherford B. Hayes were both at a private funeral at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City. Arthur’s wife was buried next to him in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York. In 1889, sculptor Ephraim Keyser built a monument with a bronze angel putting a palm leaf on a granite sarcophagus.