[Transcriber's note: The outcome of the election of 1876 was not known
until the week before the inauguration itself. Democrat Samuel Tilden
had won the greater number of popular votes and lacked only one
electoral vote to claim a majority in the electoral college. Twenty
disputed electoral votes, however, kept hopes alive for Republican
Governor Hayes of Ohio. A fifteen-member Electoral Commission was
appointed by the Congress to deliberate the outcome of the election. By
a majority vote of 8 to 7 the Commission gave all of the disputed votes
to the Republican candidate, and Mr. Hayes was elected President on
March 2. Since March 4 was a Sunday, he took the oath of office in the
Red Room at the White House on March 3, and again on Monday on the East
Portico of the Capitol. Chief Justice Morrison Waite administered both
oaths.]
Fellow-Citizens:
We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington,
observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-honored custom, which
marks the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called
to the duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage,
to announce some of the leading principles, on the subjects that now
chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is my desire to be
guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay
down irrevocably principles or measures of administration, but rather to
speak of the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain
important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions and
essential to the welfare of our country.
At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential
election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my
sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then
appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the
example, and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I
wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to
repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my countrymen
will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel assured
that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the
Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me,
charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them
out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends,
under the Constitution and laws on the Chief Executive of the nation.
The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by
such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens
in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one
subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic
citizens regard as of supreme importance.
Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which has
passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable benefits
which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous
acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet
been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the
threshold of this subject. The people of those States are still
impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful
local self-government is not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of
opinion may exist as to the cause of this condition of things, the fact
is clear that in the progress of events the time has come when such
government is the imperative necessity required by all the varied
interests, public and private, of those States. But it must not be
forgotten that only a local government which recognizes and maintains
inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government.
With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to each
other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities
which exist in those States, it must be a government which guards the
interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a government
which submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the laws--the
laws of the nation and the laws of the States themselves--accepting and
obeying faithfully the whole Constitution as it is.
Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure of
beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In
furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the
Constitution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all
so-called party interests lose their apparent importance, and party
lines may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we
have to consider for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union
is the question of government or no government; of social order and all
the peaceful industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a
return to barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the
nation is deeply interested, and with respect to which we ought not to
be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but
fellow-citizens and fellowmen, to whom the interests of a common
country and a common humanity are dear.
The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of
our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of
servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their
former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the
gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their
former masters, and by the General Government, the author of the act of
emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and providential act, fraught
with good for all concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the
country. That a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to
employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights of
the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the enjoyment of
those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is also generally
admitted.
The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or
remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by
motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in duty bound and fully
determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional means at
the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to use every
legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local
self-government as the true resource of those States for the promotion
of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I
shall make to accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of
all who cherish an interest in the welfare of the country, trusting that
party ties and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in
behalf of the great purpose to be accomplished. In the important work of
restoring the South it is not the political situation alone that merits
attention. The material development of that section of the country has
been arrested by the social and political revolution through which it
has passed, and now needs and deserves the considerate care of the
National Government within the just limits prescribed by the
Constitution and wise public economy.
But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every other
part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual and moral
condition of the people. 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.
Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest
desire to regard and promote their truest interest--the interests of the
white and of the colored people both and equally--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.
I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of reform
in our civil service--a reform not merely as to certain abuses and
practices of so-called official patronage which have come to have the
sanction of usage in the several Departments of our Government, but a
change in the system of appointment itself; a reform that shall be
thorough, radical, and complete; a return to the principles and
practices of the founders of the Government. They neither expected nor
desired from public officers any partisan service. They meant that
public officers should owe their whole service to the Government and to
the people. They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure
as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the
performance of his duties satisfactory. They held that appointments to
office were not to be made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan
services, nor merely on the nomination of members of Congress, as being
entitled in any respect to the control of such appointments.
The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in
declaring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent place
to the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing and strongly
urging its necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific import
with those I have here employed, must be accepted as a conclusive
argument in behalf of these measures. It must be regarded as the
expression of the united voice and will of the whole country upon this
subject, and both political parties are virtually pledged to give it
their unreserved support.
The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to
office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the
members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential
importance the principles of their party organization; but he should
strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best
who serves the country best.
In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important respects a
change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to the Constitution
prescribing a term of six years for the Presidential office and
forbidding a reelection.
With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall not
attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and prostration which
we have suffered during the past three years. The depression in all our
varied commercial and manufacturing interests throughout the country,
which began in September, 1873, still continues. It is very gratifying,
however, to be able to say that there are indications all around us of a
coming change to prosperous times.
Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it is, with this
topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made in my letter
of acceptance, that in my judgment the feeling of uncertainty
inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuation of
values, is one of the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous
times. The only safe paper currency is one which rests upon a coin basis
and is at all times and promptly convertible into coin.
I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of
Congressional legislation in behalf of an early resumption of specie
payments, and I am satisfied not only that this is wise, but that the
interests, as well as the public sentiment, of the country imperatively
demand it.
Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country to
consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the
international complications abroad, threatening the peace of Europe,
that our traditional rule of noninterference in the affairs of foreign
nations has proved of great value in past times and ought to be strictly
observed.
The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor, President Grant, of
submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between ourselves
and foreign powers points to a new, and incomparably the best,
instrumentality for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe,
become a beneficent example of the course to be pursued in similar
emergencies by other nations.
If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the
period of my Administration arise between the United States and any
foreign government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope to
aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus
securing to our country the great blessings of peace and mutual good
offices with all the nations of the world.
Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest marked
by the excitement which usually attends the contests between great
political parties whose members espouse and advocate with earnest faith
their respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no respect
extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent uncertainty of
the result.
For the first time in the history of the country it has been deemed
best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the
objections and questions in dispute with reference to the counting of
the electoral votes should be referred to the decision of a tribunal
appointed for this purpose.
That tribunal--established by law for this sole purpose; its members,
all of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and
intelligence, and, with the exception of those who are also members of
the supreme judiciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its
deliberations enlightened by the research and the arguments of able
counsel--was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American people.
Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as legally
conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the present,
opinion will widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions
announced by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance
where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under the
forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely regarded
as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the contest.
The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a
dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law
no less than as to the proper course to be pursued in solving the
question in controversy is an occasion for general rejoicing.
Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment--that
conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably
adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the
nation ought surely to follow.
It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right of
suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in history
of a great nation, in the midst of the struggle of opposing parties for
power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to
adjustment according to the forms of law.
Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of
nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators,
Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite
with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not
only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union--a union
depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion
of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled
upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and
justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all
generations."
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