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
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