Exhibit 1234 ยท Statute
An Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States (Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act), 22 Stat. 403
First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified here- under.
Creates the three-member Civil Service Commission, requires open competitive examinations for classified positions with appointment from the highest graded, bars political contributions and service as a condition of employment, and makes violation a misdemeanor.
- Source
- United States Congress
- Date
- 16 January 1883
- Quoted from
- Section 2, Second, First (National Archives enrolled act, NAID 5730369; transcription hyphenates 'here- under')
- Grade
- Primary record
- Document
- https://docsteach.org/document/pendleton-act/
- Accessed
- 2026-11-10
- Cited by
- Findings citing this exhibit
- Note
- Other text read in the National Archives transcript (OurDocuments, via NPS copy): Sec. 2, Second, Second: 'all the offices, places, and employments so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations'; Fifth: 'no person in the public service is for that reason under any obligations to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so.' The act initially covered only a minority of federal positions (the proportion was not verified here).