The main goals of were to put an end to political appointments under the spoils system and to create a system of competitive examinations through which the very best candidates were to be hired.

The correct answer is the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act  is a federal law which was enacted in the US in 1883. It aimed to end with the spoils system, through which each new president and his party changed all the members of the goverment civil service at their discretion. The results were the appointment of family, relatives, party affiliates and contacts.

The intention was to establish an objective merit system to access instead. Competitive exams were established in order to select among candidates for those job positions in terms of the best results obtained, rather than by affiliation or by ties to certain politicians. The aim was also to provide some stability to the civil service, as during the spoils system, there was a total staff turnover after every change in goverment.

the government closely monitored its finances to avoid another financial collapse.