Political appointments in the United States federal government until 1883. In 1820 Congress limited federal administrators to four-year terms, which led to constant turnover; by the 1860s and the Civil War, patronage had led to widespread inefficiency and political corruption. Although it used to be confined to cabinet positions, department heads, and foreign ambassadorships, by the 1860s patronage had spread to low-level government positions. This meant that when the incumbent political party lost a presidential election, the federal government underwent wholesale turnover. On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disaffected and mentally unstable political office seeker, assassinated President James Garfield. This highlighted how much the
USLHT Holly (1881) USLHT Holly (1881) The USLHT "Holly" was one of two Holly-class side wheel bay and sound tenders built in 1881 for service in the Chesapeake Bay region, the other being the . Both ships in the class had composite hulls, with wood frames and iron sheathing, and were built by Malster & Reaney of Baltimore, Maryland. The original contract cost was estimated at $37,500 each. However, their actual cost upon completion was $41,911 each. The two ships replaced the lighthouse tenders "Heliotrope" and "Tulip". Commissioned by the United States Lighthouse Service on 1 September 1881, "Holly" was first assigned to