Chester A. Arthur

[[File:Chester A. Arthur by Abraham Bogardus.jpg|165px|thumb|right|Chester A. Arthur]]
{{uspolitics}}
'''Chester A. Arthur''' {{lived|1829|1886}} was the twenty-first [[President of the United States]], taking office after the assassination of [[James A. Garfield]].<ref name=biography>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chester-A-Arthur Chester A. Arthur] Britannica</ref> Arthur was incredibly popular among the Stalwart faction of the [[Republican Party]], mostly because of his involvement in "Roscoe Conkling’s Stalwart Republican machine,"<ref name=WH>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/chester-a-arthur/ Chester A. Arthur] Whitehouse.gov</ref> with Conkling being the Republican Senator who led the campaign for nominating [[Ulysses S. Grant]] at the 1880 Republican National Convention.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roscoe-Conkling Roscoe Conkling] Britannica</ref> In spite of this, he ended up going against the Stalwarts as President, becoming "a champion of civil service reform."<ref name=WH/>

Arthur became President after Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, himself the "Stalwart of Stalwarts" who killed Garfield specifically in hopes it would bring Stalwart views to the Republican Party.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/fall/guiteau A Stalwart of Stalwarts] National Archive</ref> However, Arthur instead signed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which essentially gave the Half-Breeds everything they wanted.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/pendleton-act Pendleton Act (1883)] National Archive</ref> This was largely due to the widespread belief that the Stalwart ideas which caused Garfield to be shot needed to be stamped out; not doing so would essentially be vindicating the assassination in the first place.<ref name=biography/>

Arthur is notable among Presidents from this era for his opposition to [[racism]], defending a [[African American|black woman]] named Lizzie Jennings in her lawsuit against a street company that forced her out of a car only intended for white passengers in 1854! Unsurprisingly, Arthur was also an [[abolitionist]] and pleaded for an [[enslaved]] man who sued for his [[freedom]] on the basis that he was brought to the free state of [[New York]].<ref name=biography/> However, this didn't prevent him from signing the {{wpl|Chinese Exclusion Act||,}} the only law in U.S. history to specifically ban immigration of a certain ethnicity.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)], ''National Archives''</ref>

He is also different in that he engaged in physical conflicts with others over politics in his youth. As Thomas Reeves noted in his biography on Arthur:

{{quotebox|As a further diversion, in the fall of 1844 he joined a number of young Whigs who built an "ash pole" to testify to their support of [[Henry Clay]], and took part in a brawl with another group of adolescents who objected. Years later, as President, Arthur thought back to this bruising struggle and chuckled, "I have been in many a political battle since then, but none livelier, or that more thoroughly enlisted me."<ref>''Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur'' by Thomas C. Reeves</ref>{{rp|32}}}}

==The original birther controversy==
{{main|Obama citizenship denial}}
Arthur is also notable for being the first President who was accused of not being born in the [[United States]], which if true would have made him unable to become President under the [[U.S. Constitution|Constitution]].<ref>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-executive-branch/ The Executive Branch] whitehouse.gov</ref> According to a rumor started by the Democratic Party of the time, Arthur was not born in [[Vermont]], as he claimed, but in [[Canada]].<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-original-birther-controversy/ The original "birther" controversy] CBS News</ref> One of the people behind this narrative, Arthur P. Hinman, had also previously accused Arthur of being born in [[Ireland]] and moving to the United States when he was a teenager.<ref>[https://vtdigger.org/2016/09/25/vermont-politician-faces-birthers/ Then Again: A Vermont politician faces the ‘birthers’] VT Digger</ref> So clearly, dishonesty behind such accusations is nothing new either.

==References==
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Categories: Lawyers, Military, New York, Presidents of the United States, Racists, United States politicians, Vice Presidents of the United States