Rutherford
Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on
4th October, 1822. Educated at Harvard Law
School, he worked as a lawyer in Cincinnati, where he obtained
a reputation for being willing to defend fugitive-slave cases.
During the Civil War he served in the
Union Army and reached the rank of major general. Hayes, member of
the Republican Party, he was elected
to Congress in 1865. He also served as governor of Ohio (1868-72 and
1876-77).
In 1876 Hayes was nominated as the Republican
presidential candidate. The party had been hurt by the scandals during
the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77)
and were attracted by Hayes's clean record in government. His Democratic
Party opponent, Samuel Tilden, also
had an impressive background, and during the election the Republican
supporting Thomas Nast, produced a series
of cartoons attacking him. This helped to undermine the Democrats
campaign but early returns suggested a Tilden victory and the first
Democratic president since the American
Civil War. When the votes were counted Tilden (4,284,757) had
won 51% of the vote, against 48% for Hayes (4,033,950).
After the election the Republican
Party
challenged the validity of the voting in South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana. These three southern states were still under post-war military
occupation, and over the next few days votes for Tilden were disqualified
shifting the majority to Hayes. Members of the Democratic Party were
furious and many refused to accept the new voting figures. Florida
sent two rival sets of electors to the electoral college and left
it to Congress to decide who should become president.
Congress was itself split with the Senate being controlled by Republicans
and the House of Representatives by the Democrats.
In an attempt to solve the problem both houses agreed to set up a
special Electoral Commission of 15 senators, representatives and supreme
court justices. In an attempt to produce a non-partisan decision,
it was agreed to appoint seven Republicans, seven Democrats, and one
independent justice to the commission. However, at the last moment
the independent justice was offered a senate seat in Illinois and
was replaced by a supporter of the Republican
Party.
During the investigation by the commission some voters claimed they
had been physically intimidated during the election. The committee
also discovered several cases of fraud including attempts to destroy
ballot papers. However, at the end of the investigation, all members
of the commission voted on party lines and Hayes was given the electoral
votes for all three states. Hayes was therefore elected with 185 electoral
votes to Tilden's 184.
Leaders of the Democratic
Party
continued to challenge the election result. Further negotiations took
place and it was eventually agreed that Samuel
Tilden
would accept the result in return for federal troops being removed
from southern states. This decision enabled the whites to regain the
political control of the South that they had lost at the end of the
American
Civil War.
In most of these states Black Codes
were reintroduced and a large percentage of African Americans lost
the right to vote in future elections.
Many people believed that Hayes did not deserve to be president and
during his period in office he became known as "Mr. Fraudulency".
Hayes also upset the trade union movement
by sending federal troops against railroad strikers in 1877. He also
angered party bosses by reforming the civil service by replacing political
patronage with nonpartisan examinations.
The main political issue during his term of office concerned silver
coinage. After the discovery of new deposits of silver in Nevada,
Colorado and Utah, some political figures began to urge an increase
in the production of silver coins. Hayes argued against the move claiming
it would result in higher inflation. In 1877 Richard
Bland of Missouri introduced a bill that provided for a dramatic increase
in silver coinage. This bill was eventually amended and was passed
despite attempts by Hayes to have the act vetoed.
Hayes refused renomination by the Republican
Party in 1880. In retirement, Hayes worked for humanitarian causes,
especially prison reform. Rutherford Hayes died in Fremont, Ohio,
on 17th January, 1893.
Thomas Nast, Rutherford B. Hayes
Harper's Weekly (21st October,
1876)
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