Chester A. Arthur

Arthur assumed the presidency in 1881 following Garfield's assassination, marking the transition from Vice President to President.

President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law on May 6, 1882, prohibiting Chinese laborer immigration for ten years.

President Chester A. Arthur signed the Edmunds Act on March 23, 1882, making polygamy a felony in federal territories.

The act levied a fifty-cent duty on non-citizens, creating an immigration fund for regulatory expenses.

The act introduced the 'LPC clause,' restricting persons unable to support themselves, a subjective regulatory tool.

The 47th U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1882 on August 3, 1882, establishing federal immigration regulations.

President Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law on January 16, 1883, surprising reformers who viewed him as a Stalwart.

The United States Civil Service Commission issued its first rules in May 1883, establishing merit-based hiring standards.

James G. Blaine won the Republican nomination on the fourth ballot at the 1884 Chicago convention, defeating incumbent President Arthur.

Grover Cleveland secured the Democratic nomination on the second ballot at the 1884 Chicago convention, confirming his frontrunner status.

Delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C. in October 1884 to select a universal prime meridian, choosing Greenwich as the international standard.

President Chester A. Arthur presided over the formal dedication of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on February 21, 1885.

In the month before Cleveland's 1885 inauguration, President Arthur opened four million acres of Ho-Chunk and Crow Creek lands in the Dakota Territory to white settlement by executive order.

Grover Cleveland was sworn in as the 22nd president on March 4, 1885, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.