Rutherford Birchard Hayes

Hayes, Rutherford Birchard (1822–93), 19th president of the United States. Hayes, who won office in a bitterly contested election, began his term during a period of sectional and economic crisis. By the time he left office, economic prosperity had been restored and Reconstruction in the South brought to a close. These accomplishments carried a high price, however: For Southern blacks, the end of Reconstruction meant the loss of protection for newly won civil rights.

war Law and politics

Hayes graduated from Kenyon College in 1842, went on to study at Harvard Law School, and then returned to Ohio to practice law.

In 1858 Hayes was elected city solicitor of Cincinnati. During the Civil War, he fought on the Union side with distinction, winning promotions rapidly. Between 1865 and 1877, Hayes served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1865–67) and as Ohio's governor (1969–72 and 1876–77). In 1876, the Republican Party nominated him for president.

The contested election

Early returns in the 1876 election seemed to indicate a Democratic victory. Samuel J. Tilden, Hayes's Democratic opponent, had won 250,000 more popular votes than Hayes. However, the totals from 4 states—Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Oregon—were in dispute. The 20 electoral votes of these states, if awarded to Hayes, would give the victory to him. To resolve the dispute, Congress appointed a special 15-member Electoral Commission. The Commission, dominated by Republicans, awarded the 20 electoral votes, and the presidency, to Hayes.

President

Southern Democrats were not easily persuaded to accept the Electoral Commission's decision. In return for their support, Republican leaders promised to end Reconstruction and withdraw the remaining federal troops from the South. Republicans also pledged that federal jobs and congressional spending would be more evenly distributed between North and South. President Hayes kept his side of the agreement. Within 2 months of his inauguration, the last federal troops departed the South. Hayes also appointed an ex-Confederate, David M. Kay, to his cabinet. The Compromise of 1877 averted a crisis that had threatened to erupt into war. But it also resulted in the virtual extinction of the Republican Party in the South and the end of protection for Southern blacks' civil rights. Hayes began early in his term to grapple with the problem of civil service reform. He made executive appointments on the basis of merit rather than party loyalty. In doing so, he alienated powerful leaders within his own party.

During the first years of Hayes's administration, the nation was in an economic depression. Wage reductions caused large-scale strikes, including a 10-state railroad stoppage in 1877. Hayes ordered federal troops to the scenes of the trouble, and the strike collapsed. Agriculture was also hard hit by the depression. Farmers demanded “easy money”: more paper currency and the coinage of more silver. Hayes, who believed in “sound money,” opposed these measures. His administration successfully accumulated a gold reserve to back all paper money, which helped to restore business confidence. By the end of Hayes's presidency, the nation had emerged from the depression. In 1880, Hayes's friend and fellow Ohioan James A. Garfield was elected president. Hayes saw this as a gesture of support for his own policies, and he left office feeling relief and satisfaction.