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
PS Victoria (1881) Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and was scrapped in 1900. However, there is no mention of her ever being purchased or chartered in the Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company records. PS Victoria (1881) PS "Victoria" was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1881. The ship was built in steel by Aitken and Mansel and launched on 9 September 1881. Her engines were by David Rowan of Glasgow. She was the first ship constructed