Adapting a British Political Invention to American Needs
| Author | Paul P. Riper |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1953.tb01706.x |
| Date | 01 December 1953 |
| Published date | 01 December 1953 |
Adapting
a
British Political Invention
to
American Needs
By PAUL
P.
VAN
RIPER
Dr.
Van Riper
is
an Associate Professor
of
Administration in the
School
of
Business and Public Administration,
Cornell
University, U.S.A.
N
recent discussions with a number of representatives of foreign countries
I
I
have had put to me many questions concerning the nature and develop-
ment of the American civil service. There seems to be a general impression
abroad that the public service of the United States has, as we sometimes
put it,
“
just growed
”
without much conscious direction.
To
a limited extent this is true. However, a fairly complete legislative
foundation for the development of a civil service based on examinations
and merit in the English manner has existed in the United States since the
passage
of
the Pendleton Act of 1883.l This particular piece of legislation
today enjoys the unusual distinction of still being on the legal books and
without important amendment since its passage seventy years ago. Further,
this particular legislative act was partly prompted by the recognition in
this
country of the accomplishments of British civil service reform. Essentially,
the passage of the Pendleton Act of 1883 represented the adaptation
of
a
British political invention to the constitutional and administrative needs
of
the United States.
What
I
want to discuss briefly here is the nature of the Pendleton Act
of
1883 and the general concepts involved in this piece of legislation which
is still today the fundamental civil service statute of the federal government
of the United States. An understanding of this statute and the motives
behind its formulation are essential to
an
understanding of the American
public service of today.
The
Political Situation
Briefly summarising, the passage of the Pendleton Act was the culmination
of a civil service reform movement dating back to the time of the Civil War.
The scandals of the Grant administration in the late eighteen-sixties and
early seventies, the British example, the work of a small group of well-known
individuals of whom Carl Schurz, George William Curtis, and Dorman B.
Eaton were the leaders, the brief experience with limited civil service pro-
cedures
under
the authority
of
a
rider
to
an
appropriation
hill
pacced
in
187
1
-
ropher
with
the
cata!y!f.
%%
9:
4’gwdsnt
GftTfigla’8
aeemaination
~
-
‘22
V.S. Sratutes,
403
(1883).
317
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