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
US Open (tennis) in the United States. The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that employs tiebreakers in every set of a singles match. For the other three Grand Slam events, a match that reaches 6–6 in the last possible set (the third for women and the fifth for men) continues until a player takes a two-game lead. As with the US Open, those events use tiebreakers to decide the other sets. The US Open also is the only Grand Slam tournament with 16 qualifiers (instead of 12) in the women's singles draw. The tournament was first held in August 1881