Reformers in the Republican Party, which dominated national politics in the 1860s and 1870s, had been calling for a professional, merit-based civil service since shortly after the Civil War.

"To the victor belong the spoils." For decades in the 1800s, that phrase was more than a slogan; it was the official hiring policy of the U.S. government. "You win the election, you're entitled to ...

Donald Trump is waging war on the civil service in the name of efficiency. But Washington created the modern civil service to ...

Supported by 21 Republican AGs, the amicus brief defends President Trump’s “Fork Directive” and critiques the federal workers ...

The act of violence almost 150 years ago effectively gave birth to the civil service, that class of nonpartisan experts who ...

A 19th-century presidential assassination was a signature event in helping the U.S. establish a meritocratic system for ...

Would Chester A. Arthur faithfully execute the new law ... Julia Sand had continued to write letters to Arthur between 1881 and 1883, and the president heeded much of her advice.