Born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822, Rutherford B. Hayes would play a prominent part in ending Reconstruction. One of the first future presidents not born in a log cabin, Hayes nonetheless grew up in a post-pioneer community that reflected frontier values. He was a man who did everything right, had no enemies, and was content with the basics of life. An avid reader and life-long learner, Hayes appeared to be the most qualified candidate for the presidency in 1876. Yet the pinnacle of a lifetime proved to be his greatest personal sadness.
Early Life of Hayes
Before attending Kenyon College in Ohio, Hayes’ early years were spent at a Connecticut boarding school. Upon graduation from college, Hayes attended Harvard, studying law. Returning to Ohio to practice law, Hayes ultimately moved to Cincinnati where his practice began to thrive. In 1852, Hayes married Lucy Webb and settled down to a career in law and politics.
The 1850s were tumultuous years for the United States. As conflict between the North and South deepened, old political alignments were frazzled. Hayes had identified with the Whig Party since he was eighteen. Now, in the midst of political clamor, he joined the newly formed Republican Party.
The War Years
Having served in local politics, Hayes resigned his position as Solicitor when war broke out in 1861. His motivations were both patriotic and political. Military service was a definite enhancement to any future political resume. Fighting in a number of campaigns, Hayes was eventually promoted to Lieutenant Colonel with the Ohio 23rd.
Though wounded, Hayes fought until the end of the war in 1865 despite having been elected to the House of Representatives. Although he entered the war with no military experience, Hayes was well-liked by his men, including William McKinley who would himself become president at the end of the century.
Hayes During Reconstruction
Elected to Congress in 1864 and 1866, Rutherford Hayes supported the program of the Radical Republicans. Quiet and contemplative, Hayes never authored any major legislation nor did he identify with any controversial issues. In 1867 he won the governorship of Ohio, a position he would be reelected to in 1869 and 1875.
The years under President Ulysses Grant were torturous for the Republican Party. Large-scale corruption and graft engulfed the party, reaching to the Cabinet and causing a split in the Republicans. Moderates like Carl Schurz, reformers later dubbed mugwumps, stood against party stalwarts such as New York’s Roscoe Conkling.
Additionally, Reconstruction had encountered bitter conflict in the South, especially in Louisiana and South Carolina where rival state governments forced Grant to station occupation troops. Finally, the Panic of 1873, a significant economic downturn, revived the acrimonious debate of hard versus soft money, pitting east against west, and threatening the 1876 Republican nominating convention.
Hayes as President
The irreconcilable divide between Roscoe Conkling, James Blaine, and Oliver Morton paved the way for a Hayes candidacy, ushered through the convention by men like Senator John Sherman of Ohio. Hayes became president following a “deal” or bargain involving Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats.
The “deal” involved accepting the ruling of a special electoral commission that decided the fate of multiple electoral returns from Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina. In each case, the commission voted 8-7 in favor of Hayes. The Election of 1876 was, in many ways, a stolen election.
As President, Hayes was bound to fulfill the terms of the bargain, appointing an ex-Confederate as Postmaster and extending wide-scale patronage to the South. Rejected by his own party and knowing that the South was merely using him, Hayes stood alone. He removed the last Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction, and was forced to deal with the violent railroad strike in the summer of 1877.
Hayes died on January 17, 1893 having spent the remainder of his life in semi-retirement in Ohio, all but forgotten by the nation.
Sources:
- Lloyd Robinson, The Stolen Election (Tom Doherty Associates, 2001)
- Page Smith, Trial By Fire: A People’s History of the Civil War and Reconstruction (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1982)
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