CHAPTER 1 RUTHERFORD B HAYES he presidential election of 1876 between Rutherford B Hayes and Samuel Tilden was among the most bitterly contested in U S history Both the Democrats and the Republicans accused each other of fraud Not until March 2 two days before Pres Ulysses S Grant s term expired was the issue at last settled The electoral commission decided in favor of the Republican candi date Hayes After eight years of corruption in Washington Hayes tried to establish new standards of integrity in the White House EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware Ohio on Oct 4 1822 At 16 he entered Kenyon College in Gambier Ohio and in 1842 he graduated at the head of his class He then attended School Harvard Law in Cambridge Mass receiving a bachelor of laws degree in 1845 Returning to Ohio he established a successful legal practice in Cincinnati 12
RUTHERFORD B HAYES Hayes also entered local politics in the new Republican party While serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War he was nominated and elected to the U S Congress He took his seat in the House of Representatives in December 1865 and was reelected in 1866 He then served three terms as governor of Ohio attracting national attention with his strong advocacy of a sound currency backed by gold THE DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION The Republican nominating convention for the 1876 presidential election met in Cincinnati The leading candidate Senator James G Blaine of Maine had been accused of graft and reformers controlled the convention Hayes Ohio’s favorite son won the nomination The Democratic party also nominated a reform candidate Samuel J Tilden The campaign was bit terly fought though the platforms of the two major parties differed little Tilden won a popular majority and early returns indi cated a Democratic victory in the electoral College as well 13
BroGRAPHIES OF THE NEW WORLD POWER RUTHERFORD B HAYES THOMAS AN Eorson Moore On election night Hayes went to bed convinced that he had lost The next day however his campaign managers challenged the legitimacy of the returns from South Carolina Florida and Louisiana and as a result two sets of ballots were submitted from the three states Congress debated the election for weeks The Senate which was Republican declared for Hayes The House which was Democratic said Tilden had won Finally Congress appointed an electoral com mission to re count the entire vote The commission consisted of eight Republicans and seven Democrats The vote on every count was eight to seven When it became clear that the commis sion would decide for Hayes the Southern Democrats agreed to accept him if the Republicans would enter into a bargain More than the election of Tilden they wanted federal troops withdrawn from the South and the return of self government to the states The Republicans agreed and on March 2 the commission announced that Hayes had 185 electoral votes and Tilden 184 The result was greeted with outrage by some Northern Democrats who thereafter referred to Hayes as His Fraudulency 14
RUTHERFORD B HAYES PRESIDENCY The presidency was weak and Congress strong when Hayes moved into the White House Powerful senators had impeached President Andrew Johnson and subdued Grant They expected to control Hayes also and were by no means pleased with the tone of his inaugural address The people of the country however applauded his much quoted statement He serves his party best who serves his country best Hayes incurred the enmity of many Republican leaders by carrying out the bar gain The Southern Republican governments to which Hayes owed his election collapsed and the South thereafter became solidly Democratic In April 1877 the last federal troops were withdrawn from the South and the long bitter period of Reconstruction was at last ended Hayes s policies toward the South angered conservative Republicans known as the Stalwarts The president further offended this group with his efforts to end the corrupt spoils system the giving of government jobs to party workers as a reward for securing votes The worst abuses of the spoils system 15
