Institutional racism reforms of the spoils system in place since the 1830s, and abuses of the post-war Grant-Jacksonian era; when Congress authorized the president to appoint a Civil Service Commission and prescribe regulations for admission to public service. A dis-satisfied office-seeker assassinated President Garfield in 1881 and Congress was motivated to pass the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883 which firmly established civil service. During reconstruction, this enabled the federal government to provide jobs for newly freed blacks in the south (primarily the Postal Service) where no other employment opportunities existed for them. Since the inception of the merit system in
Joseph Phillips (cricketer, born 1881) Joseph Phillips (cricketer, born 1881) Joseph Herbert Phillips (2 December 1881 – 15 January 1951) was an English cricketer active in first-class cricket from 1904–1911. He played as a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast bowler. The son of William Garside Phillips, the founder of the Ansley Hall Coal and Iron Company, he was born at Ansley Hall in the Warwickshire village of Ansley on 2 December 1881. Phillips made his debut in first-class cricket for Warwickshire against London County in 1904 at Coventry. He would have to wait until 1910 for his next first-class match, which came when Warwickshire played