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Chester A. Arthur 1881 - 1885

Picture of Chester A. Arthur
    Chester A. Arthur was born in Farifield Vermont in 1829, and was graduated from Union College in 1848.  After college he taught school and practiced law in New York City.  During the Civil War he served as Quartermaster General for the state of New York, and after the war he became the New York  port collector.  Arthur ran for Vice-President as a Republican in 1880 under James Garfield, and assumed the Presidency after Garfield's assasination in 1881.  Once in office Garfield fought for civil service reform, and helped pass the Pendleton Act in 1883, which offered job protection for civil service workers.  During his administration Congress passed a number of laws restricting immigration, most notably the Chinese exclusion act of 1882, which Arthur supported.  Arthur also sought lower tariffs, which angered many in the Northeast.  Arthur did not win the Republican nomination in 1884.  In 1886 he died of kidney failure. 
 

 

Online Chester A. Arthur Resources:

Cullybackey - Ancestral home of Chester A. Arthur, located in Ireland.
 

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