The presidency of Chester A. Arthur began on September 19, 1881, when Arthur became the 21st President of the United States upon the assassination and death of President James A. Garfield, and ended on March 4, 1885. Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law on January 16, 1883. The bill created a civil service commission to oversee civil service examinations and outlawed the use of 'assessments,' fees that political appointees were expected to pay to their respective political parties as the price for their appointments. These reforms had previously been proposed by the Jay Commission, which had investigated Arthur during his time as Collector of the Port of New York. The Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty, which would have allowed the United States to build a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via Nicaragua, was also defeated in the Senate.The 47th Congress spent a great deal of time on immigration. To their surprise, Arthur vetoed it and requested revisions, which they made and Arthur then approved.