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Jenckes, Thomas Allen (1818-1875) Speech of Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island on the bill to regulate the civil service of the United States and promote the efficiency thereof

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01265.32 Author/Creator: Jenckes, Thomas Allen (1818-1875) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Pamphlet Date: 1868 Pagination: 15 p. ; 22 x 14 cm. Order a Copy

Reported and printed by F. & J. Rives and George A. Bailey. Speech delivered in the House of Representatives on May 14, 1868. Lends his support to a new bill in which a department of the civil service will be created. Discusses the success of such a bill in other countries. Highlights positive features of the bill. Concludes by stating that the bill "is intended to complete and perfect the great idea of the Republic."
The bill proposed also requires that the vice president be the head of the department of civil service. In addition, it establishes that all civil officers (except postmasters) be appointed by the president, with the consent of the Senate.

Representative from Rhode Island; born in Cumberland, R.I., November 2, 1818; attended the public schools; was graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1838; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Providence, R.I.; clerk in the State legislature 1840-1844; secretary of the State constitutional convention in 1842; adjutant general 1845-1855; member of the State house of representatives 1854-1857; commissioner to revise the laws of the State in 1855; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1871); chairman, Committee on Patents (Thirty-eighth through Forty-first Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870; resumed the practice of law; died in Cumberland, R.I., on November 4, 1875.

Jenckes, Thomas Allen, 1818-1875

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