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
USLHT Holly (1881) USLHT Holly (1881) The USLHT "Holly" was one of two Holly-class side wheel bay and sound tenders built in 1881 for service in the Chesapeake Bay region, the other being the . Both ships in the class had composite hulls, with wood frames and iron sheathing, and were built by Malster & Reaney of Baltimore, Maryland. The original contract cost was estimated at $37,500 each. However, their actual cost upon completion was $41,911 each. The two ships replaced the lighthouse tenders "Heliotrope" and "Tulip". Commissioned by the United States Lighthouse Service on 1 September 1881, "Holly" was first assigned to