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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG |
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HAYES, RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD (18221893) , nineteenth president of the United States, was born in Delaware
standing
Cedar
House
chief
During his administration President Hayes devoted his efforts mainly to civil service reform, resumption of specie payments and the pacification of the Southern States, recently in rebellion. In order to win the co-operation of the white people in the South in maintaining peace and order, he put himself in communication with their leaders. He then withdrew the Federal troops which since the Civil War had been stationed at the southern State capitals. An end was thus made of the " carpet-bag governments " conducted by Republican politicians from the North, some of which were very corrupt, and had been upheld mainly by the Federal forces. This policy found much favour with the people generally, but displeased many of the Republican politicians, because it loosened the hold of the Republican party upon the Southern States. Though it did not secure to the negroes sufficient protection in the exercise of their political rights, it did much to extinguish the animosities still existing between the two sections of the Union and to promote the material prosperity of the South. President Hayes endeavoured in vain to induce Congress to appropriate money for a Civil Service Commission; and whenever he made an effort to restrict the operation of the traditional " spoils system," he met the strenuous opposition of a majority of the most powerful politicians of his party. Nevertheless the system of competitive examinations for appointments was introduced in some of the great executive departments in Washington, and in the custom- house
York
assessment for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed "; and he removed from their offices the heads of the post-office in St Louis and of the custom-house in New Yorkinfluential party managerson the ground that they had misused their official positions for partisan ends. In New York
time by the Resumption Act of January 1875, opposition to it did not cease. A bill went through both Houses of Congress providing that a silver dollar should be coined of the weight of 4121 grains, to be full legal tender for all debts and dues, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. President Hayes returned this bill with his veto, but the veto was overruled in both Houses of Congress. Meanwhile, however, the preparations for the return to specie payments were continued by the Administration with unflinching constancy and on the 1st of January 1879 specie payments were resumed without difficulty. None of the evils predicted appeared. A marked revival of business and a period of general prosperity ensued. In his annual message of the 1st of December 1879 President Hayes urged the suspension of the silver coinage and also the withdrawal of the United States legal tender notes, but Congress failed to act upon the recommendation. His ad-ministration also did much to ameliorate the condition of the Indian tribes and to arrest the spoliation of the public forest lands.Although President Hayes was not popular with the professional politicians of his own party, and was exposed to bitter attacks on the part of the Democratic opposition on account of the cloud which hung over his election, his conduct of public affairs gave much satisfaction to the peopl: generally. In the presidential election of 188o the Republican party carried the day after an unusually quiet canvass, a result largely due to popular contentment with the then existing state of public affairs. On the 4th of March 1881 President Hayes retired to his home at Fremont, Ohio. Various universities and colleges conferred honorary degrees upon him. His remaining years he devoted to active participation in philanthropic enterprises; thus he served as president of the National Prison Association and of the Board of Trustees chosen to administer the John F. Slater fund for the promotion of industrial education among the negroes of the South, and was a member, also, of the Board of Trustees of the Peabody Education fund for the promotion of education in the South. He died at Fremont, after a short illness, on the 17th of January 1893. There is no adequate biography, but three " campaign lives " may be mentioned: Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes, by James Quay Howard (Cincinnati, 1876); Life of R. B. Hayes, by William D. Howells (New York, 1876); and a Life by Russell H. Conwell (Boston, 1876). See also Paul L. Haworth, The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 (Cleveland, O., 1906). (C. S.) End of Article: HAYES, RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD (18221893) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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