On July 2, 1881, Pres. James A. Garfield was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally unstable lawyer and aspiring politician who believed that he had played a key role in Garfield’s election. After Garfield took office, Guiteau repeatedly sought a foreign consulship but was denied. Guiteau thought that he had been rejected because he aligned with the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party and that Garfield was planning on ending the patronage system, a polarizing issue within the party. Guiteau believed that Garfield’s death would end the divisions among Republicans. In addition, he assumed that after Vice President Chester A. Arthur, a Stalwart, took office, Guiteau would be rewarded with a job.
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