Answer: determined by a merit system based on civil service examinations
Explanation:
The <em>Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act </em>of 1883 was signed to overhaul Federal employment methods that favored political affiliation instead of merit.
In the 1870s, federal office holders were engaged in a form of patronage that would see them giving federal jobs to people who funded them or those who supported them politically.
This Act changed all that when it made it unlawful to give people jobs due to their political affiliation but rather on the basis of merit which would be determined by civil service examinations.
