David Wu
American politician (born 1955)
Rutherford B. Hayes
president of the United States from 1877 to 1881
Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. He was a staunch abolitionist and Civil War veteran who rose to the rank of brevet major general. Hayes’ presidency was marked by the controversial Compromise of 1877 and his efforts to implement civil service reforms.
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About the Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayeswas the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881.
As an attorney in Ohio, Hayes served as Cincinnati’s city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings. At the start of the American Civil War, he left a fledgling political career to join the Union Army as an officer. Hayes was wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862. He earned a reputation for bravery in combat, rising in the ranks to serve as brevet major general. After the war, he earned a reputation in the Republican Party as a prominent member of the “Half-Breed” faction. He served in Congress from 1865 to 1867 and was elected governor of Ohio, serving two consecutive terms from 1868 to 1872 and half of a third two-year term from 1876 to 1877 before his swearing-in as president.
Hayes won the Republican nomination for president in the 1876 United States presidential election. In the disputed general election, he faced Democratic nominee Samuel J. Tilden. Hayes lost the popular vote to Tilden; neither candidate secured enough electoral votes to win the election. Hayes secured a victory when a Congressional Commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes in the Compromise of 1877. The electoral dispute was resolved with a backroom deal whereby both Southern Democrats and Whiggish Republican businessmen acquiesced to Hayes’s election on the condition that he end both federal support for Reconstruction and the military occupation of the former Confederate States.
Hayes’s administration was influenced by his belief in meritocratic government and equal treatment without regard to wealth, social standing, or race. One of the defining events of his presidency was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which he resolved by calling in the US Army against the railroad workers. It remains the deadliest conflict between workers and strikebreakers in American history. As president, Hayes implemented modest civil-service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. He vetoed the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, which put silver money into circulation and raised nominal prices, but Congress overrode his veto. His policy toward western Indians anticipated the assimilationist program of the Dawes Act of 1887. At the end of his term, Hayes kept his pledge not to run for reelection and retired to his home in Ohio. Historians and scholars generally rank Hayes as an average to below-average president.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rutherford B. Hayes was an attorney in Ohio and served as Cincinnati’s city solicitor from 1858 to 1861.
Rutherford B. Hayes left a fledgling political career to join the Union Army as an officer, where he was wounded five times and earned a reputation for bravery in combat, rising to the rank of brevet major general.
The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, with Hayes securing the presidency on the condition that he end federal support for Reconstruction and the military occupation of the former Confederate states.
Hayes implemented modest civil service reforms, vetoed the Bland-Allison Act, and faced the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which he resolved by calling in the US Army against the railroad workers.
Historians and scholars generally rank Rutherford B. Hayes as an average to below-average president.
28 Quotes by Rutherford B. Hayes
- 1.
The President of the United States should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves his country best.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 2.
No person connected with me by blood or marriage will be appointed to office.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 3.
As friends go it is less important to live.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 4.
The independence of all political and other bother is a happiness.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 5.
Virtue is defined to be mediocrity, of which either extreme is vice.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 6.
One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 7.
The truth is, this being errand boy to one hundred and fifty thousand people tires me so by night I am ready for bed instead of soirees.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 8.
I am not liked as a President by the politicians in office, in the press, or in Congress. But I am content to abide the judgment the sober second thought of the people.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 9.
The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 10.
I am a radical in thought (and principle) and a conservative in method (and conduct).
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 11.
In avoiding the appearance of evil, I am not sure but I have sometimes unnecessarily deprived myself and others of innocent enjoyments.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 12.
Must swear off from swearing. Bad habit.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 13.
Let every man, every corporation, and especially let every village, town, and city, every county and State, get out of debt and keep out of debt. It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 14.
Do not let your bachelor ways crystallize so that you can’t soften them when you come to have a wife and a family of your own.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 15.
It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear…’
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 16.
He serves his party best who serves his country best.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 17.
Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself; indeed, it seems to execute itself.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 18.
We are in a period when old questions are settled and the new are not yet brought forward. Extreme party action, if continued in such a time, would ruin the party. Moderation is its only chance. The party out of power gains by all partisan conduct of those in power.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 19.
The progress of society is mainly the improvement in the condition of the workingmen of the world.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 20.
I am less disposed to think of a West Point education as requisite for this business than I was at first. Good sense and energy are the qualities required.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 21.
To vote is like the payment of a debt, a duty never to be neglected, if its performance is possible.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 22.
Wars will remain while human nature remains. I believe in my soul in cooperation, in arbitration; but the soldier’s occupation we cannot say is gone until human nature is gone.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 23.
Universal suffrage is sound in principle. The radical element is right.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 24.
Unjust attacks on public men do them more good than unmerited praise.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 25.
The filth and noise of the crowded streets soon destroy the elasticity of health which belongs to the country boy.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 26.
Conscience is the authentic voice of God to you.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 27.
The bold enterprises are the successful ones. Take counsel of hopes rather than of fears to win in this business.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881
- 28.
Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority.
Rutherford B. Hayespresident of the United States from 1877 to 1881