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
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