<P> After the assassination of James A. Garfield by a rejected office - seeker in 1881 , the calls for civil service reform intensified . Moderation of the spoils system at the federal level came with the passage of the Pendleton Act in 1883 , which created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to evaluate job candidates on a nonpartisan merit basis . While few jobs were covered under the law initially , the law allowed the President to transfer jobs and their current holders into the system , thus giving the holder a permanent job . The Pendleton Act 's reach was expanded as the two main political parties alternated control of the White House every election between 1884 and 1896 . After each election the outgoing President applied the Pendleton Act to jobs held by his political supporters . By 1900 , most federal jobs were handled through civil service and the spoils system was limited only to very senior positions . </P>
what event led to the end of the spoils system
the assassination of James A. Garfield