HAYES.
" ... and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which
will forever wipe out in our political affairs the color line and the
distinction between North and South, to the end that we may have, not
merely a united North or a united South, but a united country."
_Rutherford B. Hayes_, _Inaugural Address_, _March_ 5, 1877.
The Sixth Republican National Convention met at Cincinnati, Ohio, June
14, 1876, and, as already noted, for the first time since 1860 there was
to be a contest for the presidential nomination. James G. Blaine was
most prominently mentioned during the months preceding the Convention,
and was unquestionably the favorite of a majority of the delegates when
they met. His friends were united and enthusiastic, but there was a
factional opposition, led by Mr. Conkling, of New York, that united on
the seventh ballot and resulted in the nomination of a candidate who had
received comparatively little attention before the Convention met. The
next strongest candidates after Mr. Blaine seemed to be Oliver P.
Morton, of Indiana, and Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky, both of whom
had rendered conspicuous services to the party and to the country. Other
candidates were Roscoe Conkling, of New York, Rutherford B. Hayes, of
Ohio, and John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania. The Convention was called
to order by Edwin D. Morgan, who named Theodore M. Pomeroy, of New York,
temporary Chairman. The usual committees were appointed and Edward
McPherson, of Pennsylvania, was reported as permanent Chairman. Gen.
Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, reported the following platform:
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1876.
When in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human
slavery, and when the strength of government of the people, by the
people, and for the people was to be demonstrated, the Republican party
came into power. Its deeds have passed into history, and we look back to
them with pride. Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of
our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering
courage, hope and purpose, we, the representatives of the party, in
national convention assembled, make the following declaration of
principles:
1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. By the
combined workings of the national and state governments, under their
respective constitutions, the rights of every citizen are secured, at
home and abroad, and the common welfare promoted.
2. The Republican party has preserved these governments to the hundredth
anniversary of the nation's birth, and they are now embodiments of the
great truth spoken at its cradle: "That all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among
which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that for the
attainment of these ends governments have been instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Until
these truths are cheerfuly obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced,
the work of the Republican party is unfinished.
3. The permanent pacification of the southern section of the Union and
the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all
their rights, is a duty to which the Republican party stands sacredly
pledged. The power to provide for the enforcement of the principles
embodied in the recent constitutional amendments is vested by those
amendments in the Congress of the United States, and we declare it to be
the solemn obligation of the legislative and executive departments of
the government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all their
constitutional powers for removing any just causes of discontent on the
part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen complete
liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and
public rights. To this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief
Executive whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter
until these results are placed beyond dispute or recall.
4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant the national
government assumed to remove any doubts of its purpose to discharge all
just obligations to the public creditors, and "solemnly pledged its
faith to make provisions, at the earliest practicable period, for the
redemption of the United States notes in coin." Commercial prosperity,
public morals, and the national credit demand that this promise be
fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress to specie payment.
5. Under the Constitution the President and heads of departments are to
make nominations for office; the Senate is to advise and consent to
appointments, and the House of Representatives is to accuse and
prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the public service
demands that these distinctions be respected; that Senators and
representatives who may be judges and accusers should not dictate
appointments to office. The invariable rule in appointments should have
reference to the honesty, fidelity and capacity of the appointees,
giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of
administration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all
others to be filled by persons selected with sole reference to the
efficiency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share
in the honor of rendering faithful service to the country.
6. We rejoice in the quickening conscience of the people concerning
political affairs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid
responsibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of all
who betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough and unsparing.
7. The public-school system of the several states is the bulwark of
the American Republic, and with a view to its security and permanence
we recommend an amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
forbidding the application of any public funds or property for the
benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian control.
8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures and the obligations of
the public debt must be largely derived from duties upon importations,
which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote interests of
American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole country.
9. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public lands to
corporations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain be
devoted to free homes for the people.
10. It is the imperative duty of the government so to modify existing
treaties with European governments that the same protection shall be
afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the native
born; and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect
immigrants, in the absence of power in the states for that purpose.
11. It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully investigate the effect
of the immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral and
material interests of the country.
12. The Republican party recognizes with approval the substantial
advances recently made toward the establishment of equal rights for
women, by the many important amendments effected by Republican
legislatures, in the laws which concern the personal and property
relations of wives, mothers and widows, and by the appointment and
election of women to the superintendence of education, charities, and
other public trusts. The honest demands of this class of citizens for
additional rights, privileges, and immunities should be treated with
respectful consideration.
13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the
territories of the United States for their government, and in the
exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit
and extirpate, in the territories, that relic of barbarism, polygamy;
and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end and the
supremacy of American institutions in all the territories.
14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors
must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who
imperilled their lives for the country's preservation in the kindest
rememberance.
15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We
therefore note with deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts, as
its chief hope of success, upon the electoral vote of a united South,
secured through the efforts of those who were recently arrayed against
the nation; and we invoke the earnest attention of the country to the
grave truth that a success thus achieved would reopen sectional strife
and imperil national honor and human rights.
16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in character and
spirit as when it sympathized with treason with making its control of
the House of Representatives the triumph and opportunity of the nation's
recent foes; with reasserting and applauding in the National Capitol the
sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the
rear and promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; with deliberately
proposing to repudiate the plighted faith of the government; with being
equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing financial question;
with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan mismanagements and
obstruction; with proving itself, through the period of its ascendancy
in the Lower House of Congress utterly incompetent to administer the
government; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus alike
unworthy, recreant and incapable.
17. The national administration merits commendation for its honorable
work in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and President
Grant deserves the continued hearty gratitude of the American people
for his patriotism and his eminent services, in war and in peace.
18. We present as our candidates for President and Vice-President of
the United States two distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and
character, and conspicuously fitted for those high offices, and we
confidently appeal to the American people to intrust the administration
of their public affairs to Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler.
On the second day the nominations were made of the above-named
candidates, with stirring speeches, the most remarkable of which were
the three delivered for Mr. Blaine. Robert G. Ingersoll, in presenting
Mr. Blaine's name, uttered the eloquent words which caused his
celebrated effort to become known as the "Plumed Knight Speech"; near
its conclusion he said, "Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight,
James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and
threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of
the defamers of his country and the maligners of his honor. For the
Republicans to desert this gallant leader now is as though an army
should desert their General upon the field of battle." This nomination
was seconded by Henry M. Turner, colored, and William P. Frye, of Maine.
Gov. Hayes was nominated by Edwin F. Noyes, seconded by Benjamin F.
Wade. The various nominating speeches concluded the second day's
business and the balloting began on the opening of the third day of the
Convention. The number of votes necessary for a choice was 378, and
seven ballots were taken, with the following result for the leading
candidates:
1st. 2d. 3d. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th.
Blaine ......... 285 290 293 292 286 308 351
Morton ......... 125 120 113 108 95 85
Bristow ........ 113 114 121 126 114 111 21
Conkling ....... 99 93 90 84 82 81
Hayes .......... 61 64 67 68 104 113 384
Hartranft ...... 58 63 68 71 69 50
Scattering votes were also cast for Messrs. Wheeler, Jewell and
Washburne. At the close of the seventh ballot, Mr. Hayes' nomination was
made unanimous on motion of William P. Frye. During the sixth ballot the
unit rule was decided against and each delegate allowed to vote as he
pleased, and this became the rule of all subsequent conventions of the
party, although in the convention of 1880 the supporters of Gen. Grant
made a strong effort to fasten the unit rule on that convention. The
candidates for the vice-presidential nomination were Wm. A. Wheeler,
Marshall Jewell, Stewart L. Woodford, Jos. R. Hawley and F. T.
Frelinghuysen, but after the first ballot had proceeded as far as South
Carolina the nomination of Mr. Wheeler was made unanimous.
The nomination of Mr. Hayes was a great surprise to the country and
consequently, at first, created little enthusiasm in the party, but it
was shortly seen that he was in fact a strong candidate, and the party
united solidly behind him and took up the canvass with considerable
enthusiasm. Rutherford B. Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4,
1822, and graduated at Kenyon College in 1842. He studied law, and
practiced for a short time at Fremont, Ohio, afterwards moving to
Cincinnati, where he became the City Solicitor. He volunteered in the
Civil War, distinguished himself in many important engagements, and rose
from the rank of Major to brevet Major-General. The War over, he entered
Congress (1865), and at the close of his term was twice elected
Governor, serving from 1868 to 1872; was defeated for Congress in 1872,
but his election in 1875 to the Governorship, over the Democratic
Governor, William Allen, in a remarkable honest-money campaign, brought
him into greater national prominence, and now resulted in his nomination
for the Presidency. His nomination was a bitter disappointment to the
many friends of Mr. Blaine, but they promptly ratified it.
The Republican Platform of 1876, already given, was strong in expression
and lofty in its sentiments, which were in keeping with those engendered
by the Centennial Year.
The Democratic Convention assembled at St. Louis, Mo., June 27th. The
nomination of Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, was almost a foregone
conclusion before the Convention met, and he was nominated on the second
ballot. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, who was the strongest opponent
of Tilden for the presidential nomination, was named for Vice-President
by a unanimous vote. The Democratic platform of 1876 was a lengthy and
remarkable one, containing "the sustended arguments of a stump speech."
Its planks, with few exceptions, began with "we denounce" or "reform is
necessary," and it was a general arraignment of the entire course of the
Republican Party while in power, and stated near its conclusion, "reform
can only be had by peaceful, civic revolution. We demand a change of
system, a change of administration, and a change of parties, that we may
have a change of measures and men."
The other political conventions of this year were the Prohibition
Convention held at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 17th, at which Green Clay
Smith, of Kentucky, was nominated for President, and G. T. Stewart, of
Ohio, for Vice-President. The Independent National or Greenback Party
met at Indianapolis May 18th, and nominated Peter Cooper, of New York,
for President, and U. S. Senator Newton Booth, of California, for
Vice-President, who declined and was replaced by Samuel F. Cary, of
Ohio. Its platform demanded the immediate repeal of the Specie
Resumption Act of January 14, 1875, and the issuance of United States
notes, convertible on demand into United States obligations, bearing a
rate of interest not exceeding one cent a day on each $100.00, and
exchangeable for United States notes at par, as being the best
circulating medium that could be devised. It insisted that bank paper
must be suppressed, and it protested against the further issuance of
gold bonds for sale in foreign markets, and against the sale of
government bonds for the purpose of purchasing silver to be used as a
substitute for fractional currency. At the election in November the
Greenback Party polled a total of 81,737 votes, not influencing the
electoral vote of any State, with the possible exception of Indiana,
which Tilden carried with 213,526 votes to 208,011 for Hayes, Cooper
receiving 17,233 in this State. The total Prohibition vote this year was
9,522. The Democrats, throughout the campaign, had high hopes of
success; the hard times which had followed the panic of 1873, the
factional disturbances in the Republican Party, charges of official
dishonesty, and dissatisfaction of some Republicans with the financial
policy of the party, and the success of the Democrats in several of the
Northern States all indicated an exceedingly close election. The
Republican campaign was largely in the hands of Zachariah Chandler, of
Michigan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, as Mr. Hayes
took little part in the details or organization of the canvass.
Colorado, admitted in August of this year, raised the number of States
to thirty-eight, with a total electoral vote of 369, making 185 votes
necessary for an election. The October States did not indicate anything
decisive for either side; Ohio going Republican and Indiana Democratic
by small majorities. The election was held on Nevember 7th, and a few
hours after the polls were closed it was found that Tilden and Hendricks
had carried Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Indiana, and if they
had received the vote of the solid South it would give them 203 of the
electoral votes and consequently the election. But Mr. Chandler, on
information received, sent out a telegram from headquarters in
Washington saying that the Republicans had been successful in South
Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, and that Hayes and Wheeler were elected
by a majority of one. A general outline of the remarkable contest that
now followed, and its decision, must suffice for these pages. Each party
sent a number of its prominent members to the capitals of the disputed
States to witness the count. The legal canvassing boards in all of these
States decided in favor of Hayes and Wheeler. Then followed, as it was
afterwards discovered, many attempts to bribe an elector in the disputed
States to vote for Mr. Tilden, but when the electors met in the various
States on December 6th, the vote was 185 for Hayes and Wheeler and 184
for Tilden and Hendricks. As hostile sets of electors were present in
four States--Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana and Oregon--it was
therefore of the highest importance to know who would count the votes
when Congress jointly assembled for that purpose. The Senate and its
presiding officer were Republicans, the House was Democratic, and it was
apparent that with so much at stake neither would make any concession to
the other. This was a state of affairs unprovided for in the
Constitution or in any laws that had been passed, and the result was
that for four months after the election nobody knew who would be
inaugurated as President in March, 1877. The difficulty was temporarily
solved by the Electoral Commission Law, which became effective January
29, 1877. It provided that any electoral votes from any State from which
but one return had been received should not be rejected except by the
affirmative vote of the two Houses, but if more than one return was
received from any State it should be referred to a Commission, to be
composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House and
five Supreme Court Justices, and the decision of a majority of this
Commission was to decide unless otherwise ordered by a concurrent vote
of both Houses. Senators Oliver P. Morton, George F. Edmunds, F. T.
Frelinghuysen, Republicans, and Allan G. Thurman and Thomas F. Bayard,
Democrats, were chosen to represent the Senate; Josiah G. Abbott, Eppa
Hunton and H. B. Payne, Democrats, and James A. Garfield and George F.
Hoar, Republicans, represented the House; four Justices of the Supreme
Court had been designated by the law to act, and these were Nathan
Clifford and Stephen J. Field, Democrats, and William Strong and Samuel
F. Miller, Republicans; they were to choose the fifth Justice, and
Joseph P. Bradley, Republican, was selected. By a strict party vote the
Commission decided, 8 to 7, all questions in favor of the Republicans.
These decisons, as already noted, could not be set aside without the
concurrent vote of both Houses, which manifestly could not be obtained,
and at 4:10 a. m. March 2, 1877, it was declared by Mr. Ferry, President
pro tem. of the Senate, that Hayes and Wheeler had been elected by 185
votes to 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. The popular vote at the November
election was Tilden 4,285,992 and Hayes 4,033,768.
[Illustration: Rutherford B. Hayes.]
Before passing to the events of President Hayes' administration, it is
interesting to note that when the second session of the Forty-fourth
Congress met on December 4, 1876, an election was held to fill the
position of Speaker, left vacant by the death of Mr. Kerr. Samuel J.
Randall, Democrat, was elected by 162 votes to 82 votes for James A.
Garfield, and it is therefore seen that President Hayes would enter upon
his term with one branch of Congress Democratic.
Mr. Hayes was publicly inaugurated March 5, 1877, the 4th falling upon
Sunday. The striking declaration of his inaugural address was the
paragraph setting forth the policy that he would pursue in the Southern
question, and this policy was exactly the reverse of that of his
predecessor. He withdrew the military protection to the colored voter
and entered upon a policy of pacification by putting the whites of the
South on their honor. This was practically turning over the entire South
to the Democrats, and they were not slow to seize the advantage, and
they immediately began to work for a "solid South," which became an
assured fact when the results of the election of 1880 were known. This
policy was extremely unsatisfactory to most of the members of the
Republican Party, and considerable antagonism to the President was
shown. Lapse of time, however, has vindicated President Hayes, and it is
now felt that while his administration was not brilliant, still it was
safe, progressive and satisfactory. The President also had his ideas on
the subject of Civil Service Reform, and on June 22, 1877, he issued an
order that no officer of the Government should be required or permitted
to take part in the management of political organizations or election
campaigns.
The first session (extra) of the Forty-fifth Congress opened October 15,
1877. The most important business of this session, and indeed of
President Hayes' administration, was the legislation on the silver
question, which came up before the House suddenly on November 5, 1877,
on motion of Mr. Richard P. Bland, of Missouri, that the rules be
suspended so as to permit the introduction of a bill for the free
coinage of the standard silver dollar. The motion was carried, and had
the effect of cutting off all debate and amendment. The bill, as passed
in the House, provided for the coinage of the standard silver dollar
(412-1/2 grains), to be legal tender at face value for all debts public and
private, and any owner of silver bullion might deposit it in any United
States mint and have it coined into dollars for his own benefit. The
Bland bill was thus a remonetization of silver on absolutely a free
coinage basis, and if passed by the Senate and approved by the President
in its original form it would unquestionably have had a serious effect
upon the credit of the Government. Its introduction and passage in the
House caused a flurry in the money market, and distinctly affected the
refunding of the public debt, but fortunately it was amended in the
Senate so as to deprive it largely of its destructive effect on the
national credit. Mr. Allison (Republican), of the Committee on Finance
in the Senate, reported an amendment, striking out the free coinage
provision, and providing that the Secretary of the Treasury should
purchase at the market price not less than $2,000,000 nor more than
$4,000,000 per month of silver bullion to be coined into dollars, any
gain to be for the benefit of the Treasury. The House accepted the
Allison amendment, but President Hayes vetoed the bill and it was passed
over his veto February 28, 1878.
A strong but unsuccessful attempt had been made to repeal the specie
resumption act, but now, after seventeen years of suspension of specie
payment, which had seriously affected the public credit during all these
years, the time approached for resumption. John Sherman was Secretary of
the Treasury under President Hayes, and the great act of resumption took
place quietly under his direction on January 1, 1879. Mr. Sherman had
fought for resumption in both Houses of Congress, and was now permitted,
by his official position, to bring about the execution of the law. Its
effect on the public credit had been marked for several months before
the statutory time of resumption by a better feeling throughout the
country in financial circles. The manner in which the entire subject had
been treated reflected the greatest credit on the ability of Mr.
Sherman, and ranked him with Alexander Hamilton as a great financier.
The Chinese Immigration question had been growing in prominence for
several years, and it resulted in a bill to restrict this immigration.
The bill passed the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by President
Hayes, and its supporters were unable to obtain the necessary vote to
pass it over the veto. As the Forty-fifth Congress had adjourned without
making the necessary appropriations for the legislative, executive and
judicial departments, President Hayes was forced to call an extra
session of the Forty-sixth Congress, which met March 18, 1879. In the
House Mr. Randall was re-elected Speaker by 143 votes to 125 for James
A. Garfield, and for the first time since 1857 the Democratic Party was
in complete control of both branches of Congress.
As the time approached for another national campaign the merits of
several possible candidates were thoroughly discussed. President Hayes
was not a candidate, and the contest for the nomination was seemingly
between General Grant and James G. Blaine, with John Sherman as a
possible compromise candidate. Several interesting elements entered into
the situation and made it extremely doubtful who would be successful,
and the result was the most remarkable contest the party had had in any
of its previous conventions, and was solved by the selection, on the
thirty-sixth ballot, of one whose name had not even been placed in
nomination.