<P> The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections . It is the opposite of the spoils system . </P> <P> The earliest known example of a merit system dates to the Qin and Han dynasties . To maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, the government maintained a complex network of officials . Prospective officials could come from a rural background and government positions were not restricted to the nobility . Rank was determined by merit, through the civil service examinations, and education became the key for social mobility . After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the nine - rank system was established during the Three Kingdoms period . The concept of a merit system spread from China to British India during the 17th century, and then into continental Europe . </P> <P> The United States civil service began to run on the spoils system in 1829 when Andrew Jackson became president . The assassination of United States President James A. Garfield by a disappointed office seeker in 1881 proved its dangers . President Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau who believed that the president owed him a civil service position and in not giving him the position, threatened the very being of the republican party . Two years later, the system of appointments to the United States federal bureaucracy was revamped by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which made the merit system common practice . The merit system determines the fitness of the candidate by the ability to pass a written competitive examination, given by a commission of examiners . The answers submitted by candidates must be unsigned, so as to obviate the possibility of favoritism on the part of the examiners . A list is made of the successful candidates, arranged in the order of their merit as shown by the results of the examination . Appointments must be made from this eligible list in the order of rank unless good cause can be shown why one of higher rank should be set aside for one standing lower on the list . </P>

Who developed the first governmental system based on merit