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
SS Waxholm (1881) SS Waxholm (1881) The Waxholm was a steam ship that was built in 1881, at Stockholm in Sweden, for the Waxholmsbolaget. She operated on services throughout the Stockholm archipelago for that company until 1956, when she was scrapped. The "Waxholm" was built in 1881 by , on Sodermalm in Stockholm, for the Waxholms Ångfartygs AB, better known as the Waxholmsbolaget. Her design would set the pattern for the typical archipelago steamer. Initially used on the route between Stockholm and Stenslätten via Vaxholm and Oskar-Fredriksborg, the steamer would remain in service with the Waxholmsbolaget until 1956. In that year, she was