Rutherford B. Hayes: From Education to the Presidency

Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States, led the nation through the end of Reconstruction and the dawn of the modern industrial age. His steadfast reputation for integrity, earned through his career as a soldier and statesman, made him well-suited for the task. His journey began with a strong emphasis on education, which shaped his character and prepared him for the challenges he would face.

Early Life and Education

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on October 4, 1822. His father, Rutherford Ezekiel Hayes, Jr., a Vermont storekeeper, had moved the family to Ohio in 1817 but died ten weeks before Rutherford's birth. Through both of his parents, Hayes was descended from New England colonists. His earliest immigrant ancestor came to Connecticut from Scotland.

Hayes's mother, Sophia Birchard, raised him with the help of his wealthy uncle, Sardis Birchard. This close relationship with his sister Fanny, who encouraged him to achieve a prominent career, also played a crucial role in his development.

Hayes attended common schools in Delaware, Ohio, and in 1836, he enrolled at the Norwalk Seminary in Norwalk, Ohio. A year later, he transferred to the Webb School, a preparatory school in Middletown, Connecticut, where he studied Latin and Ancient Greek.

Higher Education and Legal Training

In 1838, Hayes returned to Ohio and attended Kenyon College in Gambier. He enjoyed his time there and excelled academically, joining several student societies and developing an interest in Whig politics.

After briefly studying law in Columbus, Ohio, Hayes moved east to attend Harvard Law School in 1843. Graduating with an LL.B, he was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1845 and opened his own law office in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont).

Early Career and Family Life

Business was slow at first, but Hayes gradually attracted clients and represented his uncle Sardis in real estate litigation. In 1847, concerned about his health, he visited family in New England instead of enlisting in the Mexican-American War. He later journeyed to Texas with his uncle Sardis.

In 1850, Hayes moved to Cincinnati and opened a law office with John W. Herron. Later, he formed a new partnership with William K. Rogers and Richard M. Corwine. During this time, Hayes courted Lucy Webb, whom he married on December 30, 1852. Lucy, a Methodist, was a teetotaler and abolitionist, deeply influencing her husband. Over the next five years, they had three sons: Birchard Austin (1853), Webb Cook (1856), and Rutherford Platt (1858).

Legal and Political Beginnings

Hayes initially focused on commercial issues in his law practice but gained prominence as a criminal defense attorney, defending people accused of murder. He also defended slaves who had escaped and been accused under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Because Cincinnati was just across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, it was a destination for escaping slaves, and many such cases were tried in its courts. Hayes's political reputation rose with his professional success. He served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861 and was known as a staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings.

Civil War Service

As the Southern states seceded after Lincoln's election in 1860, Hayes initially expressed lukewarm feelings about a civil war to restore the Union, suggesting they "[l]et them go." However, after the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, Hayes resolved his doubts and joined a volunteer company. In June 1861, Governor William Dennison appointed him a major in the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Hayes served with distinction during the Civil War, earning a reputation for bravery in combat. He was wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862. Despite his injuries, he rose through the ranks to become a brevet major general.

His military service included action in western Virginia, the Antietam Campaign, and the Shenandoah Valley campaign. At the Battle of South Mountain, Hayes led a charge against an entrenched position and was shot through his left arm, fracturing the bone. He continued to lead his men until he was taken to a hospital.

In 1864, Hayes and his soldiers joined the Army of West Virginia, commanded by George Crook, and fought in many battles in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and brevetted as major general of volunteers.

Post-War Politics and Congressional Service

While still in the army, Hayes was nominated for Ohio's 2nd congressional district seat in the House of Representatives, an election he won with an overwhelming majority. He accepted the nomination but refused to campaign, stating, "an officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped."

Hayes joined national politics to help shape Reconstruction. His beliefs mirrored the Republican Party's plan to restore the South to the United States with adequate Civil Rights protections for the nation's newly freed African Americans. He voted in support of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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Elected by a heavy majority, Hayes entered Congress in December 1865, troubled by the "Rebel influences ruling the White House." He identified with the party's moderate wing but was willing to vote with the radicals for party unity.

Governorship of Ohio

Between 1867 and 1876, Hayes served three terms as the Governor of Ohio, working on social reforms in his home state. In his first two campaigns for governor, Hayes ran on a platform advocating for Black suffrage. Once elected, he ratified the Fifteenth Amendment in Ohio, granting voting rights to Blacks. As a Republican governor with a Democratic legislature, Hayes had a limited role in governing, but he oversaw the establishment of a school for deaf-mutes and a reform school for girls.

Presidential Election of 1876

Hayes's success in Ohio made him a promising candidate in the 1876 presidential election. It was generally feared that growing Democratic momentum in the South would overturn the progress made by Reconstruction policies. Safe liberalism, party loyalty, and a good war record made Hayes an acceptable Republican candidate.

The 1876 election pitted Hayes against Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The election was one of the most fiercely disputed and controversial in American history. Although Tilden won the popular vote, disputed results in Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon meant that neither candidate had a majority of Electoral College votes.

Conflicting electors sent votes to Congress, leading to months of uncertainty. In January 1877, Congress established an Electoral Commission to decide the dispute. The commission, made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, determined all the contests in favor of Hayes by eight to seven. The final electoral vote was 185 to 184.

An informal political deal was struck in which Hayes and the Republican Party were given the presidency in exchange for a promise to remove US troops from occupied districts in the South. This effectively ended Reconstruction. Without military enforcement, Democratic state governments immediately passed legislation that disenfranchised African Americans.

Presidency (1877-1881)

As the 19th President of the United States (1877-1881), Rutherford B. Hayes oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile leftover tensions from the Civil War.

Hayes insisted that his appointments must be made on merit, not political considerations. For his cabinet, he chose moderate politicians of high caliber, but outraged some Republicans because one member was an ex-Confederate and another had bolted the party as a Liberal Republican in 1872.

Hayes supported African Americans' right to vote and insisted that southern Democrats recognize and uphold their civil rights. However, once federal troops were removed from Louisiana and South Carolina, Republican resistance crumbled and Democrats reclaimed political power across the South. They disenfranchised Black voters through literacy tests and poll taxes, using coercion and violence to oppress African Americans.

Hayes was determined to protect black suffrage, but his attempts were ineffective and often defeated by Congress. He did work to reform civil service appointments by awarding Federal jobs based on merit instead of political support. This brought him into frequent conflict with members of his own party.

His administration was influenced by his belief in meritocratic government and equal treatment without regard to wealth, social standing, or race. Hayes implemented modest civil service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. He vetoed the BlandâAllison Act of 1878, which put silver money into circulation and raised nominal prices, but Congress overrode his veto. Hayes also arbitrated a territorial dispute between Argentina and Paraguay after the Paraguayan War. His policy toward western Native Americans anticipated the assimilationist program of the Dawes Act of 1887.

Post-Presidency and Legacy

Hayes had announced in advance that he would serve only one term and retired to Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881.

In his later years, he supported universal education, improving prison conditions, and assisting veterans with their pensions. He became president as the result of a corrupt compromise; however, Hayes is often credited with returning a sense of honesty and integrity back into the Presidency.

In his very active retirement Hayes continued to struggle for equal educational opportunities for all children. The legacy of President Rutherford B. Hayes remains disputed among historians. For while Hayes entered the White House during a time of discord and crisis, he laid the groundwork for positive changes and harmony in the country.

Every year since 1981, the White House Historical Association has had the privilege of designing the Official White House Christmas Ornament.

Rutherford B. Hayes died on January 17, 1893.

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