The Pendleton Act of 1883 provided for

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform act of 1833 established that positions in the federal government should be allowed only on the basis of merit rather than how much money they give to a certain party, how loyal they are in a certain party, instead of political affiliation, which before only the wealthy could earn a job in the fed. govt., whereas through this act only those who had merit on the job, not by how much money they donated to the party they liked.