intent on creating new bureaucratic authority structures. historians have sought to capture how the progressive Era reflected the interplay between reform movements at the federal level and state and local governments. in the context of political and social changes occurring after the civil War civil service reform was integral to that vision for change and viewed as embracing,in the words of one of the early reform champions,Dorman Eaton certain great principles which embody a theory of political morality,of official obligation,pf equal rights,and common justice in government.