1 General Arthur successfully engaged in the practice of
law in New York. November 20th, 1871, he was appointed collector of the
port of New York, and re-appointed in 1875. The second appointment was
confirmed by the Senate without reference to a committee, the usual
course, the fact being highly complimentary, and testifying to the high
opinion held by the Senate regarding his official record. He was
suspended by President Hayes, though no reflection upon his official
conduct was made. He again returned to the practice of law, though
taking an energetic part in politics, serving several years as chairman
of the Republican State Committee. General Arthur, in the campaign of
1880, was an ardent supporter of Grant before the National Convention,
being one of the famous "306" who voted for Grant to the last.

His nomination for Vice President was as much a surprise as that of
Garfield for the first place on the ticket. He had not been mentioned as
a candidate, and his own delegation had not thought of presenting his
name until the roll was called in the Convention. When New York was
reached in the call the delegation asked to be excused from voting for a
time. Then General Stewart L. Woodford cast the vote for Arthur. The
tide quickly turned. The Ohio men were disposed to be conciliatory, and
swung over to Arthur, who was nominated on the first ballot. The
incidents that followed the inauguration of Garfield and himself as
President and Vice-President; the unhappy differences that led to the
resignation of Senators Conkling and Platt; the strife over the election
of their successors; the assassination and death of President Garfield,
and the accession to the presidency of General Arthur. These form a
chapter in our political history, with the details of which we are all
familiar, and are not likely to soon be forgotten.

It was under the most unfavorable circumstances that Chester A. Arthur
assumed the office of President; the people's passion over the death of
the second President of the United States, to fall by an assassin's
hand, was intense; factional feeling in his own party was bitter and
apparently irreconcilable; when the popular mind was filled with
dreadful forebodings as to the future; but he exhibited a gravity, a
reticence, an affability, and a firmness which commanded the respect of
conservative men of all parties. Not only was he the most
successful--perhaps the only successful--Vice-President elevated to t