What did Chester A. Arthur (21th president) do as a president?

One of the most notable achievements of Arthur's presidency was his signing into law of the Pendleton Act of 1883. This piece of legislations set out to professionalize the civil service, making more government jobs available on the basis of merit, rather than political affiliation. Up until that time, the spoils system reigned. Federal government jobs were freely given out as a reward to those who'd rendered service to the governing party. Ability and integrity meant nothing in applying for such roles; political loyalty was everything.
This resulted in a civil service in which many of its most senior employees lacked the necessary training or skill. The spoils system also generated massive corruption, with many political appointees looking upon the federal government as nothing more than a giant piggy-bank. Many people came to see the civil service as a high road to riches, an opportunity to rip off the American taxpayer with impunity.
One such person was Charles Guiteau, a dangerously disturbed individual who sought a lucrative government job from President Garfield as a reward for helping him get elected. When he didn't get the job he wanted, Guiteau assassinated Garfield, who was successed by his Vice President, Chester A. Arthur. Although calls for civil service reform had been growing louder and more insistent for many years, it was the tragic death of President Garfield that really gave impetus to the movement for change.