Rutherford B. Hayes (1881-93) | Presidency, Facts & Death

Rutherford B. Hayes Summary

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–81) was the 19th president of the United States of America. He worked as a lawyer in Cincinnati, Ohio, wherein he defended clients in numerous instances involving runaway slaves and joined the fledgling Republican Establishment. He participated in the U.S. Legislature after being in combat in the Union army during the American Civil Army (1865–67).

He promoted a healthy currency supported by gold while serving as governor of Ohio (1868–72, 1875–76). He received the Democratic presidential nomination in 1876. Although Hayes’ rival Samuel Tilden had a more significant share of the popular vote, Hayes was declared the winner by a special Commission On elections after the Hayes administration challenged the results of the electoral votes in four states.

Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew the last of the national soldiers from the South, putting an end to restoration, and pledged not to meddle in the region’s elections, ensuring the restoration of white dominance, in accordance with a covert agreement negotiated with Conservatives even during a political dispute (see Wormley Convention). Roscoe Conkling and the “stalwart” Democrats on the right disagreed with his choice to promote merit-based civil service overhauls. Hayes employed federal soldiers against railway protesters in 1877 at the urging of state governors. He resigned to advocate for charitable projects after refusing to run for another term.

Explore the full list of Presidents in the United States to understand their legacy and impact.

Fast Facts

Born	October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio, United States
Died	January 17, 1893, in Fremont, Ohio at age 70
Wife	Lucy Ware Webb (m. 1852-89)
Parents	Rutherford > Sophia Birchard Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes Early Life

Rutherford B. Hayes was indeed the child of Sophia Birchard’s father, landowner Rutherford Hayes. Hayes attended Harvard Law School, earning a degree of law distinction in 1845, after qualifying from Kenyon University at the highest level of his classmates in 1842. After moving back to Ohio, he developed a thriving professional system in Cincinnati, wherein he defended clients in a number of cases involving runaway slaves and joined the newly created Republican Party.

He wed Lucy Ware Webster (Lucy Hayes), an accomplished and well-to-do woman, for her period in 1852. After serving in the Union army’s fighting division, he was appointed to Parliament (1865–1877) before being appointed governor of Ohio (1868–76).

Rutherford B. Hayes garnered widespread notice in 1875 throughout his third run for governor by advocating unwaveringly for a stable currency supported by gold. He gained popularity in his home state the subsequent year when he received the presidential candidacy for the Republican Party at the national nominating conference. Hayes’ spotless official information and ethical tone contrasted the commonly publicized allegations of corruption in Governor Ulysses S. Grant’s cabinet (1869–77).

Download this Article in PDF Format

Get a well-documented version of this article for offline reading or archiving.

Download Now (2.3 MB)

Two batches of votes were presented from the three states as a consequence of Hayes’s commercial advertising contesting the accuracy of the results from Southern Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. 

The Tilden-Hayes issue grew to be referred to as the resultant

electoral controversy. A bipartisan republican congress eventually established a special Winning Party to determine whose votes must be tallied. The agency’s initial composition called for seven Liberals, seven Conservatives, and David Davis, a judge of the High Court, to serve as the lone neutral. Nevertheless, Joseph P. Bradley, a Conservative, was selected in Davis’ place after he declined to do so.

While the panel deliberated, Hayes’ Fellow republicans held covert talks with conservative Southern Liberals to win their support for his victory. The committee decided to give Hayes all the challenged votes cast on March 2, 1877, voting strictly along partisan lines. It, therefore, won Hayes with 185 pledged delegates to Tilden’s 184. Many Northerners were outraged and resentful over the outcome, and they subsequently dubbed Hayes “His Misinterpretation.”

Rutherford B. Hayes Voting in 1876

Republican Nominee and Opposition to Tilden Campaign

With his victory in Ohio, Hayes quickly rose to the highest spot on the list of Republican candidates for president in 1876. Democratic Sen. Sherman accomplished all in his ability to ensure that Hayes received the candidacy because the Ohio contingent to the 1876 National Democratic Committee was unified around him. The conference took place in June 1876, featuring Maine’s James G. Blaine being the front-runner.

Blaine needed help to secure a majority despite having a sizable lead in the number of delegates at the beginning. The representatives sought a different nominee when he didn’t get enough support, and they decided on Hayes just on the seventh vote.

Although Democrat Rutherford B. Hayes began trying to get elected, the Democratic candidate became Samuel Tilden, the senator of New York. The electoral votes of Indiana, and New York, including New England, and the three southern counties of Louisiana, Carolina, and Florida, were the focus of both politicians’ efforts. Conservatives underlined the peril of having Democrats in power quickly after the American Revolution and the danger a New administration might represent to southern blacks’ freshly acquired human liberties.

Plenty of the Southern went for Republicans, but Taft saw increased support among immigrants and their offspring in the Northeastern. Conservatives accuse Liberals throughout Florida, Louisiana, and especially South Carolina of fraudulent voting and intimidation.

Rutherford B. Hayes’s Presidency (1877–1881)

Inauguration

Rutherford B. Hayes had been the first leader to swear the oath of administration in the Executive Residence due March 4, 1877, which must have been a Sunday. Hayes did it secretly the previous Saturday, March 3, throughout the Red Room within the White House.

On March 5, he officially signed the oath upon the Eastern Portico of the American House. In his inauguration speech, Hayes sought to calm the raging emotions by stating that “he represents his organization best, who loves his nation best.” He promised to back restructuring of the public sector, complete restoration to the reference standard, and “intelligent, honest and calm institutions of self” inside the Countryside.

Rutherford B. Hayes South and the Conclusion of Rebuilding

The president’s achievement in terminating Reconstruction greatly depended on the conditions of Wormley’s Lodging Contract. When Hayes became president, just member sides remained under Reconstruction’s authority; nevertheless, both states quickly switched to Democratic rule.

Rutherford B. Hayes refused an expenditure that abolished the Enforcement Acts because he was willing to keep the statute safeguarding African votes. The Ku Klan had assaulted freedmen, and it employed the Implementation Acts to put them under control. Other militaristic organizations had frightened freedmen and stifled the vote, like the Red Shirts inside the Carolinas. Hayes criticized initiatives to limit the federal government’s ability to oversee national elections.

The objectionable provision was removed from the budget that Hayes approved, but Congress threatened to veto a new measure to finance federal marshals. Democrats approved a new standard with an identical provision because they lacked the numbers to overturn the veto. Rutherford B. Hayes also vetoed that bill, and the procedure was carried out three additional times. Hayes made several unsuccessful attempts to convince the Southern to embrace legal equality and Congress to approve funding for the enforcement of civil rights legislation.

Rutherford B. Hayes Foreign Affairs

Rutherford B Hayes strongly construed the Monroe Doctrine after growing worried about plans to build a canal across the Panama Canal, which was then a portion of Colombia. Rutherford B. Hayes constructed it forcefully out of concern about a replay of French foreign adventures in Mexico. He was recognized by the Paraguayans, who gave his name to a county and a city.

Porfirio Dáz, the president of Mexico, objected to the directive and dispatched soldiers to the border. In 1880, Hayes rescinded the decree since there was less border-related violence. Additionally, he consented to prevent Mexican rebels from establishing forces in America.

---

Rutherford B. Hayes’ primary preoccupation with foreign affairs was China, which he sought to curtail by overruling the Chinese Restriction Law of 1879. During the Great Railway Protest of 1877, anti-Chinese violence broke out in San Fran, and a foreign power was founded to halt Chinese infiltration. Following his veto, Seward proposed that the nations cooperate to reduce unemployment, and he, along with James Burrill Angell, engaged in negotiations with the Chinese to just that end. When Hayes left the administration, Congress enacted a new statute for that purpose.

Rutherford B. Hayes India’s Position

Rutherford B. Hayes stopped the Administration of Indian Affairs from being taken over by the Armed Services. Undersecretary Carl Schurz carried out Hayes’s American Indian strategy. Liberal liberals at the time supported the Dawes Act’s allocation system. American Indians suffered because they lost a lot of their land due to purchases of what the administration deemed to be “surplus resources.”

Due to an error made during the Grant government, Hayes was engaged in relocating the Ponca community from Nebraska towards the Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma). When the Nez Perce were told to transfer to a reserve in June 1877, they started to rebel under the leadership of Chief Joseph. From being routed by Howard’s troops in July 1878, the Bannock went up in Idaho in the springtime of that year and ravaged adjacent villages.

Whenever some Ute assassinated Indian missionary Nathan Meeker, who was working to persuade them to convert to Catholicism, warfare against the Ute tribe started somewhere in 1879.

Rutherford B. Hayes Court Appointments

Rutherford B. Hayes chose two Deputy Justices to join the High Court. During the 1876 campaign issue, David Davis withdrew so that he could run for the Senate. During his 34 years on the bench, John Marshall Harlan consistently voted (typically in the minority) in favor of the vigorous implementation of civil rights legislation. In 1880, Justice William Strong’s departure left a spare seat open. William Burnham Woods, an Alabama-based grifter Republican district federal judge, was proposed by Hayes.

Because they felt Matthews was too connected to business and railroad concerns, several senators opposed his nomination. After the Senate withdrew without voting on Matthews’ candidacy in 1882, it did so by a solitary majority, 24 to 23, and confirmed him. Matthews held office for eight years, eventually passing away in 1889. His dissent through Yick Wo v. Hopkins strengthened the arguments he and Hayes made for the freedom of racial minorities.

Rutherford B. Hayes Post-presidency and Death (1881–1893)

Rutherford B. Hayes held trustee positions on many university and college committees after his retirement, including Western Federal College, Mount Union University, Ohio Wesleyan Academy, and the Ohio Public University. He was elected the International Criminal Justice reform Institution’s first president in 1883. At 70, Rutherford B. Hayes passed away from a Heart Attack around his Fremont, Ohio, residence on January 17, 1893.

---

Some of the People Like to Know About Rutherford B. Hayes