Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877) as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America. Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

Grant began his lifelong career as a soldier after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1843. Fighting in the Mexican–American War, he was a close observer of the techniques of Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He resigned from the Army in 1854, then struggled to make a living in St. Louis and Galena, Illinois.Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

After the American Civil War began in April 1861, he joined the Union war effort, taking charge of training new regiments and then engaging the Confederacy near Cairo, Illinois. In 1862, he fought a series of major battles and captured a Confederate army, earning a reputation as an aggressive general who seized control of most of Kentucky and Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh. Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery

In July 1863, after a long, complex campaign, he defeated five Confederate armies (capturing one of them) and seized Vicksburg. This famous victory gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, and opened the way for more Union victories and conquests. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

After another victory at the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, President Abraham Lincoln promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general and gave him charge of all of the Union Armies. As Commanding General of the United States Army from 1864 to 1865,Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of very high casualty battles known as the Overland Campaign that ended in a stalemate siege at Petersburg. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Thomas. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

Finally breaking through Lee's trenches at Petersburg, the Union Army captured Richmond, the Confederate capital, in April 1865. Lee surrendered to Grant atAppomattox. Soon after, the Confederacy collapsed and the Civil War ended.Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery

During Reconstruction, Grant remained in command of the Army and implemented the Congressional plans to reoccupy the South and hold new elections in 1867 with black voters. This gave Republicans control of the Southern states. Enormously popular in the North after the Union's victory, he was elected to the presidency in 1868.Sony VGP-BPS13AS Battery

Reelected in 1872, he became the first president to serve two full terms since Andrew Jackson did so forty years earlier. As president, he led Reconstruction by signing and enforcing civil rights laws and fighting Ku Klux Klan violence. He helped rebuild the Republican Party in the South, Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery

an effort that resulted in the election of African Americans to Congress and state governments for the first time. Despite these civil rights accomplishments, Grant's presidency was marred by economic turmoil and multiple scandals. His response to the Panic of 1873 and the severe depression that followed was heavily criticized.Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery

His low standards in Cabinet and federal appointments and lack of accountability generated corruption and bribery in seven government departments. In 1876, his reputation was severely damaged by the graft trials of the Whiskey Ring. In addition, his image as a war hero was tarnished by corruption scandals during his presidency. Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery

He left office at the low point of his popularity.

After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that was received favorably with many royal receptions. In 1880, he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. In 1884, broke and dying of cancer, he wrote his memoirs.Sony VGP-BPS13Q Battery

Historians have ranked his Administration poorly due to tolerance of corruption. His presidential reputation has improved among scholars who are impressed by the Administration's support for civil rights for freed slaves.Sony VGP-BPS13S Battery

Early life and family

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822 to Jesse Root Grant (1794–1873), a tanner, and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798–1883), both Pennsylvania natives.[3] In the fall of 1823, the family moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. Sony VAIO VGN-AW110J/H Battery

Raised a Methodist, although not an official member of the church, Grant prayed in private and opposed religious pretentiousness.[4]At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, secured by Congressman Thomas L. Hamer's nomination. Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H Battery

An opening had been made at USMA when a cadet from Georgetown resigned in October 1838.

Hamer mistakenly nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio." At West Point, he adopted this name with a middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues at the academy, since the initials "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam". Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Battery

Grant's family's influence caused the appointment to West Point; he himself did not wish to become a soldier. Grant graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. Although he boasted of never having studied, Grant was so talented at mathematics that after graduation he would have become an instructor in the subject had the Mexican War not occurred.Sony VAIO VGN-AW11XU/Q Battery

He established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high jump record that lasted almost 25 years. Although naturally suited for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, achieving the rank of lieutenant. He helped to manage supplies and equipment.Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B Battery

Mexican–American War

During the Mexican American War (1846–1848), Lieutenant Grant served under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Although assigned as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, participating in the battles of Resaca de la Palma,Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Veracruz. Sony VAIO VGN-AW120J/H Battery

At Monterrey, he carried a dispatch voluntarily on horseback through a sniper-lined street. He was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals, particularly admiring how Zachary Taylor campaigned. Sony VAIO VGN-AW150Y/H Battery

At the time he felt that the war was a wrongful one and believed that territorial gains were designed to spread slavery throughout the nation, writing in 1883, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day, regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."Sony VAIO VGN-AW160J/Q Battery

Between wars

On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826–1902), the daughter of a slave owner. Together, they had four children:Frederick Dent Grant; Ulysses S. "Buck" Grant, Jr.; Ellen Wrenshall "Nellie" Grant; and Jesse Root Grant.Sony VAIO VGN-AW170Y/Q Battery

Lieutenant Grant remained in the army and was assigned to several different posts. He was sent west to Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory in 1852, initially landing in San Francisco during the height of the California Gold Rush. Julia was eight months pregnant with their second child and could not accompany him because a lieutenant's salary, Sony VAIO VGN-AW180Y/Q Battery

at the time, would not support a family on the frontier.

The journey proved to be a horrid ordeal and Grant narrowly escaped a cholera epidemic while traveling overland through Panama. At Fort Vancouver, he served as quartermaster of the 4th Infantry Regiment. Sony VAIO VGN-AW190JAH Battery

Grant came in contact with western American Indian tribes. In 1853, Grant stated that the Native Americans were "harmless" and that they would be "peaceful" had they not been "put upon by the whites".[10] He stated that the Klickitat tribe was formerly "powerful", yet had been inundated by white civilization's "whiskey and Small pox."Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NAB Battery

In 1854, he was promoted to captain, one of only 50 still on active duty, and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, on the northwest California coast. Without explanation, he abruptly resigned from the Army with little notice on July 31, 1854. The commanding officer at Fort Humbolt, Bvt. Lt. Col. Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NBB Battery

Robert C. Buchanan, had learned that Grant was intoxicated off duty while seated at the pay officer's table. Buchanan gave him an ultimatum and told him to leave the Army either by court-martial or resignation. Whether the threat of court-martial by Buchanan was justifiable,Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NCB Battery

Grant decided to resign, the War Department having stated on his record, "Nothing stands against his good name." Rumors, however, persisted in the regular army of Grant's intemperance.

A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven financially lean years.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YAB Battery

From 1854 to 1858, he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by Julia's father, but it did not prosper. In 1856, Grant, in order to give his family a home, made a house he called "Hardscrabble". Julia, however, did not like the house, what she described as an "unattractive cabin".Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YBB Battery

In 1858, Grant bought a slave from Julia's father, which made him one of twelve U.S. Presidents who owned slaves during their lifetime. From 1858 to 1859, he was a bill collector in St. Louis. In 1860, after many failed business pursuits, he was given a job as an assistant in his father's tannery in Galena, Illinois. Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YCB Battery

The leather shop, "Grant & Perkins", sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. He moved his family to Galena and lived in a brick house before the Civil War broke out.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YDB Battery

Up until the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant kept any political opinions private and never endorsed any candidate running for public office. He also, at this time, had no animosity toward slavery. His father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis, a fact that contributed to a failed attempt to become county engineer in 1859. Sony VAIO VGN-AW220J/B Battery

In the 1856 presidential election, he voted for the Democratic candidate James Buchanan to prevent secession and because "I knew Frémont," the Republican presidential candidate. In 1860, he favored Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas over Abraham Lincoln, but did not vote. Sony VAIO VGN-AW230J/H Battery

His own father, Jesse Root, was a prominent Republican in Galena. It was during the Civil War that his political sympathies coincided with the Republicans' aggressive prosecution of the war. In 1864, his patron Congressman Elihu B. Washburne used Grant's private letters as campaign literature for Lincoln's reelection.Sony VAIO VGN-AW235J/B Battery

In 1868, Grant, affiliated with the Radical Republicans, was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.

Civil War

On April 13, 1861, Confederate troops attacked Union Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina forcing surrender. Two days later, on April 15, President Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Sony VAIO VGN-AW290JFQ Battery

Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. He accepted a position offered by Illinois Gov. Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers. Grant, who wanted a field command, was efficient and energetic in the training camps and made a positive impression on the volunteer Union recruits.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF Battery

With the aid of his advocate in Washington D.C., Elihu B. Washburne, Grant was promoted to Colonel by Governor Richard Yates on June 14, 1861, and put in charge of the unruly Twenty-first Illinois volunteer regiment. By the end of August 1861, Grant was given charge of the District of Cairo by Maj. Gen John C.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF/H Battery

Fremont, an outside Lincoln appointment, who viewed Grant as "a man of dogged persistance, and iron will." Grant's own demeanor changed; having renewed energies, he began to walk with a confident step.

Belmont, Henry, and Donelson

Grant's first battles during the Civil War centered on Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River runs into the Mississippi River. Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF Battery

The Confederate Army was stationed in Columbus, Kentucky under GeneralLeonidas Polk. Grant, who was headquartered at Cairo, was given an open order by Union General John C. Frémont to make demonstrations against the Confederate Army at Belmont. Taking 3,114 Union troops by boat, Grant attacked Fort Belmont on November 7, 1861.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF/H Battery

Initially taking the fort, his army was pushed back to Cairo by Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow. Though considered a defeat, the battle gave confidence to Grant and the Union Army. Following Beltmont, Grant moved Union forces down the Mississippi River to capture Confederate water fortresses. Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH Battery

Grant's troops, in collaboration with the Union Navy under Andrew H. Foote, successfully captured Fort Henry on February 6, 1862 and Fort Donelson on February 16. Fort Henry, undermanned by Confederates and nearly submerged from flood waters, was taken over with few losses;Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH/Q Battery

however at Fort Donelson the Union Army and Navy experienced stiff resistance from the Confederate forces under General Pillow. Grant's initial 15,000 troop strength was increased by 10,000 reinforcements. Grant’s first attack on Fort Donelson was countered by Pillow's forces, pushing the Union Army into disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41ZF Battery

However, Grant was able to rally the troops; he resumed the offensive and the Confederates forces surrendered. Grant’s surrender terms were popular throughout the nation: “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender.” With these victories, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41ZF/B Battery

Shiloh

The Union advances achieved by Maj. Gen. Grant and Adm. Foote at Forts Henry and Donelson caused significant concern in the Confederate government. The Union army, known as the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant had increased to 48,894 men and were encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River. Sony VAIO VGN-AW50DB/H Battery

On April 6, 1862 a determined full-force attack from the Confederate Army took place at the Battle of Shiloh; the objective was to destroy the entire Western Union offensive once for all. Over 44,699 confederate troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T.Sony VAIO VGN-AW51JGB Battery

Beauregard, vigorously attacked five divisions of Grant’s army bivouacked nine miles south at Pittsburgh Landing. Aware of the impending Confederate attack, Union troops sounded the alarm and readied for battle, however, no defensive entrenchment works had been made. Sony VAIO VGN-AW52JGB Battery

The Confederates struck hard and repulsed the Union Army towards the Tennessee River. Grant and Maj. General William T. Sherman were able to rally the troops and make a stand. After receiving reinforcement troops from Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and Maj. Gen.Sony VAIO VGN-AW53FB Battery

Lew Wallace's missing division, Grant succeeded in stabilizing the Army of the Tennessee. Confederate General Johnson was killed in the battle on the first day of fighting. On April 7, Grant launched a costly counter-offensive and pursuit that forced the Confederate Army, now under P.G.T. Beauregard, to retreat to Corinth.Sony VAIO VGN-AW70B/Q Battery

The battle was the costliest in the Civil War up until this time, having 23,746 combined Union and Confederate casualties. The carnage at Shiloh demonstrated to both Confederates and Unionists that the Civil War was both very serious and extremely costly.Sony VAIO VGN-AW71JB Battery

Shiloh was the first battle in the American Civil War with tremendous casualties and Grant received much criticism for keeping the Union Army bivouacked rather than entrenched. As a result, Grant's superior Maj. Gen Henry Halleck demoted him to second-in-command of a newly formed 120,000-strong Union Army.Sony VAIO VGN-AW72JB Battery

Grant was ready to resign from command when Maj. Gen. Sherman talked him into remaining in Halleck's army. After Halleck slowly moved on Corinth unopposed, the 120,000-man army was broken up and Grant returned to his previous command over the Army of the Tennessee. Sony VAIO VGN-AW73FB Battery

After being restored to command, Grant was responsible for the refugee slave contraband whom President Lincoln had authorized to be recruited into the Union Army. Grant put the refugees under the protection of Chaplain John Eaton who authorized them to work on abandoned Confederate plantations. Sony VAIO VGN-AW80NS Battery

Eventually, these refugees were paid to cut wood to fuel Union steamers, and were the beginnings of the Freedman's Bureau during Reconstruction.

Vicksburg, and Chattanooga

On December 17, 1862 Grant issued General Orders No. 11 that expelled Jews, as a class, from Grant's military district, in a response to root out an illicit southern cotton trade in the western war department.Sony VAIO VGN-AW80S Battery

President Lincoln demanded the order to be revoked, and it was cancelled after lasted 21 days. Without admitting fault, Grant believed he had only complied with the instructions sent from Washington. According to Grant biographer, Jean E. Smith, it was "one of the most blatant examples of state-sponsored anti-Semitism in American history." Sony VAIO VGN-AW80US Battery

Resolved for more victories, President Lincoln, the Union Army and Navy, were determined to take the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, located on the Mississippi River. In December 1862, with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee,Sony VAIO VGN-AW81DS Battery

Grant first campaigned to take Vicksburg by an overland route following a railroad in combination with a water expedition on the Mississippi led by Maj. Gen.William T. Sherman. Confederate cavalry raiders Bedford Forest and Earl Van Dorn stalled Grant's advance by breaking communications, while the Confederate army led by John C. Sony VAIO VGN-AW81JS Battery

Pembertonconcentrated and repulsed Sherman's direct approach at Chickasaw Bayou. During the second phase to capture Vicksburg, Grant attempted a series of unsuccessful and highly criticized system of bayou and canal water routes. Sony VAIO VGN-AW81YS Battery

Finally, in April 1863, Grant marched Union troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed east over at Bruinsburg using Adm. David Porter's naval ships. Grant previously had implemented two diversion battles that confused Pemeberton and allowed the Union Army to cross the Mississippi River. Sony VAIO VGN-AW82DS Battery

After a series of battles and having taken a railroad junction near Jackson, Grant went on to defeat Confederate General John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. After Champion Hill, Grant made a two costly direct assaults on the Vickburg fortess and finally setted for a seven week siege. Sony VAIO VGN-AW82JS Battery

Pemberton, who was in charge of the fortress, surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863.

The Vicksburg Campaign was Grant’s greatest achievement up to this time, having opened the south to Chattanooga and gave the Union army access to the vital grainery supply in Georgia. Sony VAIO VGN-AW82YS Battery

The Union Army and Navy now controlled the entire Mississippi and divided the Confederacy in two. Grant demonstrated that an indirect assault coupled with diversionary tactics was highly effective strategy in defeating an entrenched Confederate Army.Sony VAIO VGN-AW83FS Battery

Although the success at Vicksburg was a great moral boost for the Union war effort, Grant received much criticism. During the campaign Grant had many times been accused of being drunk by military rivals and newspapers. President Lincoln sent Charles Dana to keep a watchful eye on Grant's alleged controversial drunken behavior. Sony VAIO VGN-AW83GS Battery

In addition, a personal rivalry between Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand and Grant had developed over who took credit for capturing Vicksburg. McClernand was removed from command after he published a contradictory military order to the press and the rivalry ended.Sony VAIO VGN-AW83HS Battery

After Vicksburg, President Lincoln put Grant in charge of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi in October 1863. Grant was in charge of the entire Union war front in the West except forLouisiana. After the Battle of Chickamauga, Confederate General Braxton Bragg had forced Maj.Sony VAIO VGN-AW90NS Battery

Gen. William Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland to retreat into Chattanooga, a central railway hub, surrounded the city and kept the Union army from escaping. Only Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas and the XIV corps kept the Army of the Cumberland from complete defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga. Sony VAIO VGN-AW90S Battery

When informed of the ominous situation at Chattanooga, Grant relieved Maj. Gen. Rosecrans from duty and placed Maj. Gen. Thomas in charge of and reorganize the besieged Army of the Cumberland. To stop the siege and go on the attack Grant, although injured from a previous horse fall in New Orleans,Sony VAIO VGN-AW90US Battery

personally rode out to Chattanooga and took charge of the Union Army's desperate situation. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and two divisions of the Army of the Potomac were sent by President Lincoln to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, however, the Confederates kept the two Armies from meeting.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CDS Battery

Grant's first action was to open up a supply line to the Army of the Cumberland trapped in Chattanooga. Through an ingenious plan by Maj. Gen. William F. Smith a "Cracker Line" was formed with Hooker's Army of the Potomac located at Lookout Mountain and supplied the Army of the Cumberland with food and military weapons.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CJS Battery

The situation at Chattanooga was urgent and Grant ordered Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee to get into position to attack Bragg's right flank. A week later three Union armies, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Potomac were ready to make the final assault on Bragg's entrenched armies on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CYS Battery

On November 24, 1863 Maj. Gen. Hooker captured Lookout Mountain in order to draw Bragg's troops away from Missionary Ridge. On November 25, Grant began his assault on Missionary Ridge. Maj. Gen. Sherman made an attempt to attack Bragg's right flank, however, topographical difficulties and stiff Confederate resistance prevented a successful assault. Sony VAIO VGN-AW91DS Battery

The Army of the Cumberland, took matters into their own hands, stormed over Missionary Ridge, and forced Bragg to retreat in a disorganized rout. Grant, initially upset, had only ordered the Army of the Cumberland to take the rifle pits at the base of the ridge. The victory at Chattanooga increased Grant's fame throughout the country. Sony VAIO VGN-AW91JS Battery

Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General, a position that had previously been given to George Washington and given to Winfield Scott as a brevet promotion. Grant was given charge of the entire Union Army. Grant gave the Department of the Mississippi to Maj. Gen.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91YS Battery

Sherman, and went east to Washington D.C. to make and implement an overall strategy in partnership with President Lincoln to finally win the Civil War. Grant was the only General consistently winning victories for the Union. The decisive 1863 Chattanooga battle opened Georgia and the heartland of the Confederacy to Union invasion by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CDS Battery

Overland Campaign

In Washington D.C., President Lincoln met with Grant and discussed an overall "total war" military strategy to end the Civil War with a Union victory. The strategy consisted of combined military Union offensives attacking the Confederacy's armies, railroads, and economic infrastructures. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CJS Battery

The overall strategy was to keep the Confederate armies from mobilizing reinforcements within southern interior lines. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman would attack Atlanta and Georgia, while the Army of the Potomac, led by Maj. Gen. George Meade with Grant in camp, would attack Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia. Maj. Gen. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CYS Battery

Benjamin Butler was to attack and advance towards Richmond, going up the James River. Depending on Lee's actions, Grant would join forces with Butler's armies and be fed supplies from the James River. Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel was to capture the railroad line at Lynchburg, move east, and attack from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92DS Battery

However, the efforts of both Sigel and Butler failed and Grant was left alone to fight Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles of attrition known as the Overland Campaign that finally ended in a stalemate siege at Petersburg. Lee's objectives were to prolong the war and discourage the Northern will to fight, Sony VAIO VGN-AW92JS Battery

keep Grant from crossing south of the James River, and protect Richmond from Union attack.

After taking the month of April 1864 to assemble and ready the Union Army of the Potomac, Grant crossed the Rapidan River on May 4 and attacked Lee in the Wilderness, a hard-fought battle with many casualties, lasting three days.Sony VAIO VGN-AW92YS Battery

Rather than retreat as his Union predecessors had done, Grant flanked Lee's Army of Virginia to the southeast and attempted to wedge the Union Army between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania. Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first and a costly and lengthy battle began that lasted 13 days. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93FS Battery

During the battle, Grant attempted to break through Lee's line of defense at the Mule Shoe, which resulted in one of the most violent assaults during the Civil War, known as The Battle of the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's line of defense after repeated attempts, Grant flanked Lee to the southeast east again at North Anna, a battle that lasted three days. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93GS Battery

This time the Confederate Army had a superior defensive advantage on Grant, however, due to sickness Lee was unable to lead the battle. Grant then maneuvered the Union Army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that was linked to Richmond, however, Lee was able to make strong trenches to defend a Union assault. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93HS Battery

During the third day of the 13-day Cold Harbor battle, Grant led a costly fatal assault on Lee's trenches, and as news spread in the North, heavy criticism fell on Grant, who was called "the Butcher", having lost 60,000 casualties in 30 days since crossing the Rapidan. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZFS Battery

Unknown to Robert E. Lee, Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor and stealthily moved his Army south of the James River, freed Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and attacked Petersburg, Richmond's central railroad hub.

Petersburg and Appomattox

After Grant and the Army of the Potomac had successfully crossed the James River undetected by Lee and rescued Maj. Gen. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZGS Battery

Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, Grant advanced the Union army southward to capture Petersburg. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, in charge of Petersburg, was able to defend the city until Lee's veteran reinforcements arrived. Grant forced Lee into a long nine month siege of Petersburg and the Union War effort stalled.Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZHS Battery

Northern resentment grew as the Copperhead movement led by Clement Vallandigham demanded that the war be settled through peace talks. During the Petersburg siege, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was able to take Atlanta, a victory that allowed President Lincoln to be reelected. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11EN Battery

Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan had also defeated Confederate General Early in the Shenandoah Valley; saving Washington D.C. from capture. Lee had sent Early up the Shenandoah Valley to attack Washington D.C. and draw troops away from Grant's Army of the Potomac. Sheridan's cavalry, after Early was defeated, destroyed vital Confederate supply farms in the Shenandoah Valley. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11MN Battery

Grant was able to blow up part of Lee's trenches from an underground tunnel, however, the Union troops were disorganized and unable to break through Lee's entrenchments and capture Petersburg. On August 9, 1864 Lieut. Gen. Grant, who had just arrived at his headquarters in City Point,Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11XN Battery

narrowly escaped certain death when Confederate spies blew up an ammunition barge moored below the city's bluffs. The enormous explosion, similar to the Petersburg mine, killed 47 men; 146 injured.

As the war slowly progressed, Grant continued to extend Robert E. Lee's entrenchment defenses southwest of Petersburg, in an effort to capture vital railroad links. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12VN Battery

By August 21, 1864 the Union Army had reached and captured the Weldon Railroad. As Grant continued to push the Union advance westward towards the South Side Railroad, Lee's entrenchment lines became overstretched and undermanned. Finally in April 1865, Grant was able to break through Lee's weakened entrenchments and capture Richmond. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12XN Battery

Knowing that Maj. Gen. Sherman's army, who had cost vast economic destruction in the south, would eventually link up with Grant's Army, Confederates troops in Lee's trenches deserted to the Army of the Potomac. Disease and lack of supplies also weakened Lee's forces. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31VT Battery

After an unsuccessful Confederate assault on Fort Stedman, Lee retreated from Petersburg and attempted to link up with the remnants of Confederate General Joe Johnson's defeated army in order to continue the war, however, Union cavalry led by Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan, a close friend of Grant, was able to stop the two armies from converging. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31XT Battery

Lee and the Army of Virginia reluctantly surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant gave generous terms; Confederate troops surrendered their weapons and were allowed to return to their homes on the condition they would not take up arms against the United States. Within a few weeks the Civil War was over.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560 Battery

On April 14, 1865, only 5 days after Grant's victory at Appomattox, President Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater. The President—who had been one of Grant’s staunchest supporters, had consulted with the general on military strategy, and had become a close friend—died the next morning. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N24 Battery

Grant and his wife were originally invited to accompany Lincoln to the theater, but they declined and instead took a train to Philadelphia. Grant was, at various points, a potential target in the Lincoln assassination plot. An unknown assailant allegedly attempted to break into Grant's railroad car;Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N30 Battery

however, with the car securely locked and protected by porters the assailant fled. Upon returning to Washington, D.C. the following day and having learned that Lincoln was dead, Grant, became enraged and carelessly ordered arrests of paroled Confederate officers.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P Battery

Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, however, was able to calm the growing hysteria in Washington through the use of accurate army intelligence and persuaded Grant to reverse his arrest orders. Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept openly. Grant said of Lincoln, "He was incontestably the greatest man I have ever known." Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P20 Battery

After the war

On July 25, 1866, Congress promoted Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, a form of the rank General of the Armies of the United States.[34] Grant was the most popular man in the country and became the Republican presidential candidate in 1868.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P20 Battery

Maximilian in Mexico

Following the Civil War, Grant, as commanding general, immediately had to contend with Maximilian and the French army who had taken over Mexico under the authority of Napoleon III. Grant put military pressure on the French Army to leave Mexico by sending 50,000 troops to the south Texas border led by Phil Sheridan.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P22 Battery

Grant secretly told Sheridan to do whatever it took to get Maximilian to abdicate and the French Army to leave Mexico. Sheridan sent Benito Juárez, the ousted leader of Mexico, 60,000 U.S. rifles to aid in an effort to defeat Maximillian. By 1866, the French Army completely withdrew from Mexico, leaving Maximilian to fend for himself.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P28 Battery

Maximilian, who had been installed as the Emperor of Mexico in 1864, was executed by the Mexican Army in 1867.

Stopped Fenian Canadian invasion

After the war, thousands of Irish veterans joined the Fenian Brotherhood and formed the Irish Republican Army with the intention of invading and holding Canada hostage in exchange for Irish independence. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P30 Battery

In June 1866, Grant went to Buffalo, NY, to assess the situation. He ordered the Canadian border closed to prevent Fenian soldiers from crossing over at Fort Erie and that more weapons be confiscated. In June 1866, the U.S. Army arrested 700 Fenian troops at Buffalo and the Fenians gave up on their attempt to invade Canada. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P34 Battery

Reconstruction

To bear the fruits of a Northern victory over the South, Radical Republicans deployed troops in the former confederate states to ensure constitutional rights to loyal whites and freedmen. Grant, as the highest military commander next to President Johnson, favored the will of Congress through the enforcement of congressional Reconstruction. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561 Battery

Grant reported to President Johnson that military occupation should remain in the South and that the Freedman's Bureau was an "absolute necessity". Throughout the Reconstruction period, thousands of blacks were elected to political office, sheriffs, and accessors while Grant and the military protected their rights initially by overturning the black codes in 1867.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561N20 Battery

The southern states were divided into five military districts to ensure that African Americans newly granted constitutional and congressional rights were protected. Although Grant was initially in favor of using limited military force, he authorized Phil Sheridan to remove public officials in Louisiana who were against congressional Reconstruction.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561P20 Battery

Congressional Reconstruction finally ended with the Compromise of 1877 and the complete withdrawal of military troops from the southern states.

1868 presidential campaign

As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Andrew Johnson, Sony VAIO VGN-BZ562P Battery

who preferred a moderate approach to reconstruction of the South and was increasingly at swords-point with the Radicals in Congress. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making him the Secretary of War "ad-interim" in place of Edwin M. Stanton.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ563P Battery

Under the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson could not remove Stanton without the approval of Congress. When Congress reinstated Stanton as Secretary, Grant handed over the keys to the War Department and continued his military command. This made him a hero to the Radical Republicans, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAFS Battery

He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the 1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago; he faced no significant opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became his campaign slogan.Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAHS Battery

Grant's General Orders No. 11 and antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign. Though Jewish opinion was mixed, Grant's determination to "woo" Jewish voters ultimately resulted in his capturing the majority of that vote, though Grant did lose some Jewish votes as a result of the order.Sony VAIO VGN-BZAANS Battery

In the general election of that year, Grant won against former New York Governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 votes out of 5,716,082 votes cast. Grant commanded an Electoral College landslide, receiving 214 votes to Seymour's 80. Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAPS Battery

When he assumed the presidency, Grant had never before held elected office and, at the age of 46, was the youngest person yet elected president. After the election, in an attempt to reconcile with Jewish leaders and people, Grant offered the position ofSecretary of the Treasury to Joseph Seligman, a prominent Jewish businessman. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/Q Battery

Seligman, who had helped finance the Union war effort by obtaining European capital, declined the offer.[41] Grant appointed more Jews to public office than any president before him.[42]

Presidency 1869–1877

The second president from Ohio, Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868, and was re-elected to the office in 1872. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/R Battery

He served as President from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. He was the first U.S. President to be elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former African American slaves by U.S. constitutional amendments. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/W Battery

Although Grant desired economic expansion and a productive citizenry, his presidency from the start had to contend with Ku Klux Klan violence, Native American conflicts between settlers in the West, and an unsuccessful attempt to annex Santo Domingo.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P Battery

Reconstruction dominated most of Grant's presidency, with sectional riots over the status of what the new freedman would have in post-Civil War society. Booming post-war industrial markets and the expansion of the American West fueled wild speculation and corruption throughout the United States, only to come to an abrupt crash with the Panic of 1873.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery

National wounds brought on by the massive socio-economic upheaval of the Civil War continued to mend.[44] Grant's innovative "Peace" policy advocated Native American citizenship and denounced wars of extermination as "immoral and wicked". Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery

Grant, however, allowed millions of buffalo to be hunted without restriction that resulted in the depletion of Native American food supply and of tribal independence.

Although there were initial scandals in his first term, Grant remained popular in the country and was re-elected a second term in 1872. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery

His notable accomplishments as President include the enforcement of Civil Rights for African Americans in the Reconstruction states, the Treaty of Washington in 1871, and the Resumption of Specie Act in 1875. Grant's personal reputation as President suffered from the continued scandals caused by many corrupt appointees and personal associates and for the ruined economy caused by the Panic of 1873. Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/P Battery

A faction of the Republican party, theLiberal Republicans, bolted in 1872; publicly denounced the political patronage system known as Grantism and demanded amnesty to Confederate soldiers. In his re-election campaign, Grant benefited from the loyal support of Harper's Weekly political cartoonist Thomas Nast.Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/Q Battery

As more scandals were exposed during Grant's second term in office, his personal reputation was severely damaged, while any chance for a consecutive third term nomination vanished.

Reconstruction

Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction. He supported amnesty for former Confederates and signed the Amnesty Act of 1872 to further this.Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/R Battery

He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South—sufficient numbers to protect Southern Freedmen, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTB Battery

President Grant signed the Naturalization Act of 1870 that allowed persons of African descent to become citizens of the United States.

By 1873, Grant was confronted by a Northern public angry with the economic depression that began in 1873 and tired of continuing to use the army to control politics in the former Confederate states. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTP Battery

In 1873–75, he watched as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of all but three Southern states. The Republican coalition in the South was collapsing. When urgent telegrams from Republicans begged for Army help to put down the violence by paramilitary groups at election time, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTQ Battery

he told his Attorney General that, "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," insisting that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army.[48] Grant was concerned that increased military pressure in the South might cause white supremacists in the North to bolt from the Republican Party.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTR Battery

Civil and human rights

A distinguishing characteristic in the Grant Presidency was his concern with the plight of African Americans and native Indian tribes, in addition to civil rights for all Americans. Grant's 1868 campaign slogan, "Let us have peace," defined his motivation and assured his success. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTW Battery

As president for two terms, Grant made many advances in civil and human rights. In 1869 and 1871, he signed bills promoting black voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. He won passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave freedmen the vote, and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which empowered the president "to arrest and break up disguised night marauders."Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAB Battery

Grant continued to fight for black civil rights when he pressed for the former slaves to be "...possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it." However, by 1874, a new wave of paramilitary organizations arose in the Deep South. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAC Battery

The Red Shirts and White League, who conducted insurgency inMississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Louisiana, operated openly and were better organized than the Ku Klux Klan had been. They aimed to turn Republicans out of office, suppress the black vote, and disrupt elections.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAD Battery

In response to the renewed violent outbreaks against African Americans, Grant was the first President to sign a congressional civil rights act: the Civil Rights Act of 1875.[51] This legislation mandated equal treatment in public accommodations and jury selection.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NBB Battery

Grant's attempts to provide justice to Native Americans marked a radical reversal of what had long been the government's policy: "Wars of extermination... are demoralizing and wicked," he nobly told Congress. The president lobbied, though not always successfully, to preserve Native American lands from encroachment by the westward advance of pioneers. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCA Battery

Panic of 1873

The Panic of 1873 was a world-wide depression that started when the stock market in Vienna crashed in June 1873. Unsettled markets soon spread to Berlin, and throughout Europe. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCB Battery

Three months later, the Panic spread to the United States when three major banks stopped making payments, the New York Warehouse & Security Company on September 8, Kenyon, Cox, & Co. on September 13, and the largest bank, Jay Cooke & Company, on September 18. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCC Battery

On September 20, the New York Stock Exchange shut down for ten days. All of these events created a depression that lasted five years in the United States, ruined thousands of businesses, depressed daily wages by 25% from 1873 to 1876, and brought the unemployment rate up to 14%. Some 89 out of 364 American railroads went bankrupt.Sony VAIO VGN-CS50B/W Battery

The causes of the panic in the United States included over-expansion in the railroad industry after the Civil War, losses in the Chicago and Boston fires of 1871 and 1872, respectively, and insatiable speculation by Wall Street financiers.Sony VAIO VGN-CS51B/W Battery

All of this growth was done on borrowed money by many banks in the United States having over-speculated in the railroad industry by as much as $20,000,000 in loans. Grant, who knew little about finance, relied on bankers for advice on how to curb the panic. Secretary of Treasury William A. Richardson responded by liquidating a series of outstanding bonds. Sony VAIO VGN-CS52JB/W Battery

The banks, in turn, issued short-term clearing house certificates to be used as cash. By October 1, $50,000,000 had been released into an economy desperate for paper currency. This was done without undermining the value of the dollar. By January 10, 1874, Richardson continued to liquidate bonds that released a total of $26,000,000 of greenback reserves into the economy.Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/P Battery

Although this curbed the Panic on Wall Street it did nothing to stop the ensuing five year depression. Grant did nothing to prevent the panic and responded slowly after the banks crashed in September. The limited action of Secretary Richardson did nothing to increase confidence in the general economy.Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/Q Battery

Vetoes inflation bill

After the Panic of 1873, Congress debated an inflationary policy to stimulate the economy and passed the Inflation Bill on April 14, 1874. The bill released an additional $100,000,000 into the nation's tight money supply. Many farmers and working men in the southwest anticipated that Grant would sign the bill. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/R Battery

Those with outstanding loans needed greenbacks to stay in business. Eastern bankers favored a veto because of their reliance on bonds and foreign investors. On April 22, 1874, Grant unexpectedly vetoed the bill on the fiscal grounds that it would destroy the credit of the nation.Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/P Battery

Initially, Grant favored the bill, but decided to veto after evaluating his own reasons for wanting to pass the bill.

Santo Domingo

The Caribbean island of Hispaniola, now Haiti, and the Dominican Republic (sometimes known as Santo Domingo), were the sources of bitter political discussion and controversy during Grant's first term in office.Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/Q Battery

Grant wanted to annex the island to allow Freedmen, oppressed in the United States, to work, and to force Brazil to abandon slavery. Senator Charles Sumner was opposed to annexation because it would reduce the amount of autonomous nations run by Africans in the western hemisphere. Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/R Battery

Also disputed was the unscrupulous annexation process under the supervision of Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock. The annexation treaty was defeated by the Senate in 1871; however, it led to unending political enmity between Senator Sumner and Grant.Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/P Battery

Treaty of Washington

Historians have heralded the Treaty of Washington for settling the Alabama Claims dispute between Britain and the United States by International Arbitration. In 1871, Grant’s Secretary of State Hamilton Fish had orchestrated many of the events leading up to the treaty. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/Q Battery

The main purpose of the arbitration treaty was to remedy the damages done to American merchants by three Confederate war ships: CSS Florida, CSS Alabama, and CSS Shenandoah, built by or purchased from the British. These ships had inflicted tremendous damage to U.S. merchant ships during the Civil War with the result that relations with Britain were severely strained. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/R Battery

A commission met in Washington and designed a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, rather than fault. Grant and the Senate approved the Treaty of Washington. The international tribunal awarded the United States $15,500,000. Sony VAIO VGN-CS71B/W Battery

Historian Amos Elwood Corning noted that the Treaty of Washington and arbitration “bequeathed to the world a priceless legacy”.

Virginius incident

On October 31, 1873, a merchant ship, Virginius, carrying war materials and men to aid the Cuban insurrection, was taken captive by a Spanish warship.Sony VAIO VGN-CS72JB/W Battery

Virginius was flying the United States flag and had an American registry; the U.S. did not at first realize it was secretly owned by Cuban insurgents. 53 of the passengers and crew, eight being United States citizens, were trying to illegally get into Cuba to help overthrow the government;Sony VAIO VGN-CS90HS Battery

they were executed, and many Americans such as William M. Evarts, Henry Ward Beecher, and even Vice President Henry Wilson made impassioned speeches calling for war with Spain.

Hamilton Fish handled the crisis coolly. He found out there was question over whether Virginius had the right to bear the United States flag. Sony VAIO VGN-CS90NS Battery

Spain's President expressed profound regret for the tragedy and was willing to make reparations through arbitration.[62] Fish met with the Spanish Ambassador in Washington and negotiated reparations. Spain surrendered the Virginius and paid a cash indemnityto the families of the executed Americans.Sony VAIO VGN-CS90S Battery

Scandals

Grant's inability to establish personal accountability among his subordinates and cabinet members led to many scandals during his administration. Grant often attacked vigorously when critics complained, being protective of his subordinates.Sony VAIO VGN-CS91HS Battery

Although personally honest with money matters, Grant was weak in his selection of subordinates, often favoring military associates from the war over talented and experienced politicians. He also protected close friends with his Presidential power and pardoned several convicted officials after they had served only a few months in prison. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91NS Battery

His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that, "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Nepotism was rampant. Around 40 family relatives financially prospered while Grant was President.Sony VAIO VGN-CS91S Battery

There were 11 scandals directly associated with Grant's two terms as President of the United States. The main scandals included Black Friday in 1869 and the Whiskey Ring in 1875. The Crédit Mobilier is not considered a Grant scandal; it actually began in 1864 during the Abraham Lincoln Administration and carried over into the Andrew Johnson Administration. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92DS Battery

The Crédit Mobilier scandal was exposed during the Grant Administration in 1872 as the result of political infighting between Congressman Oakes Ames and Congressman Henry S. McComb. The involvement of U.S. Ambassador to Britain, Robert C. Schenck,Sony VAIO VGN-CS92JS Battery

owning stock in the Emma Silver Mine, although corrupt, was an embarrassment to the Administration, rather than a scandal. The primary instigator and contributor to many of these scandals was Grant's personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, who indirectly controlled many cabinet departments and was able to delay investigations by reformers. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92XS Battery

Babcock had direct access to Grant at the White House and had tremendous influence over who could see the President.

Grant appointed Benjamin Bristow to the Secretary of Treasury in 1874, who uncovered and shut down the notorious Whiskey Ring.Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E Battery

When Secretary Bristow discovered that the President's personal secretary Babcock was involved in the ring, Grant became defensive. Grant eventually defended Babcock in an unprecedented 1876 deposition during the Whiskey Ring graft trials. The result of Grant's deposition saved his friend Babcock with an acquittal. Sony VAIO VGN-FW11L Battery

However, political enemies and the unpopularity of giving the deposition for Babcock ruined any chances for Grant getting a third term nomination.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States (1877–1881). Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M Battery

As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution. Hayes was a reformer who began the efforts that would lead to civil service reform and attempted, unsuccessfully, to reconcile the divisions that had led to the American Civil War fifteen years earlier.Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S Battery

Born in Delaware, Ohio, Hayes practiced law in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) and was city solicitor of Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. When the Civil War began, Hayes left a successful political career to join the Union Army. Wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain, Sony VAIO VGN-FW11ZU Battery

he earned a reputation for bravery in combat and was promoted to the rank of major general. After the war, he served in the U.S. Congress from 1865 to 1867 as aRepublican. Hayes left Congress to run for Governor of Ohio and was elected to two terms, serving from 1867 to 1871. Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H Battery

After his second term had ended, he resumed the practice of law for a time, but returned to politics in 1875 to serve a third term as governor.

In 1876, Hayes was elected president in one of the most contentious and hotly disputed elections in American history. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140AE Battery

Although he lost the popular vote toDemocrat Samuel J. Tilden, Hayes won the presidency by the narrowest of margins after a Congressional commission awarded him twenty disputed electoral votes. The result was the Compromise of 1877, in which the Democrats acquiesced to Hayes's election and Hayes accepted the end of military occupation of the South.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140D Battery

Hayes believed in meritocratic government, equal treatment without regard to race, and improvement through education. He ordered federal troops to quell the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and ordered them out of Southern capitals as Reconstruction ended.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E Battery

He implemented modest civil service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. Hayes kept his pledge not to run for re-election. He retired to his home in Ohio and became an advocate of social and educational reform.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H Battery

Childhood and family history

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on October 4, 1822, the son of Rutherford Hayes and Sophia Birchard. Hayes's father, a Vermontstorekeeper, took the family to Ohio in 1817 but died ten weeks before his son's birth.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/W Battery

Sophia took charge of the family, bringing up Hayes and his sister, Fanny, the only two of her four children to survive to adulthood.[1] She never remarried.[2] Sophia's younger brother, Sardis Birchard, lived with the family for a time.[3] Always close to Hayes, Sardis Birchard became a father figure to him, contributing to his early education.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140FE Battery

Through both his father and mother, Hayes was of New England colonial ancestry.[5] His earliest American ancestor emigrated to Connecticut from Scotland in 1625. Hayes's great-grandfather, Ezekiel Hayes, was a militia captain in Connecticut in the American Revolutionary War, Sony VAIO VGN-FW140N Battery

but Ezekiel's son (Hayes's grandfather, also named Rutherford) left his New Haven home during the war for the relative peace of Vermont.[7] His mother's ancestors arrived in Vermont at a similar time, and most of his close relatives outside Ohio would continue to live there. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140N/W Battery

John Noyes, an uncle by marriage, had been his father's business partner in Vermont and was later elected to Congress.[8] His first cousin, Mary Jane Noyes Mead, was the mother of sculptor Larkin Goldsmith Mead and architect William Rutherford Mead.[8] John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community, was also a first cousin.Sony VAIO VGN-FW145E Battery

Education and early law career

Hayes attended the common schools in Delaware, Ohio, and enrolled in 1836 at the Methodist Norwalk Seminary in Norwalk, Ohio. He did well at Norwalk, and the following year transferred to a preparatory school in Middletown, Connecticut, where he studied Latin and Ancient Greek.Sony VAIO VGN-FW145E/W Battery

Returning to Ohio, Hayes entered Kenyon College in Gambier in 1838.[12] He enjoyed his time at Kenyon, and was successful scholastically;[13] while there, he joined several student societies and became interested in Whig politics.[14] He graduated with highest honors in 1842 and addressed the class as itsvaledictorian.Sony VAIO VGN-FW160AE Battery

After briefly reading law in Columbus, Ohio, Hayes moved east once more to attend Harvard Law School in 1843.[16] 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).[17] Business was slow at first, but he gradually attracted a few clients and also represented his uncle Sardis in real estate litigation.Sony VAIO VGN-FW160D Battery

In 1847, Hayes became ill with what his doctor thought to be tuberculosis. Thinking a change in climate would help, he considered enlisting in the Mexican–American War, but on his doctor's advice he instead visited family in New England.[19] Returning from there, Sony VAIO VGN-FW160E Battery

Hayes and his uncle Sardis made another long journey to Texas, where Hayes visited with Guy M. Bryan, a Kenyon classmate and distant relative.[20] Business remained meager on his return to Lower Sandusky, and Hayes decided to move toCincinnati.Sony VAIO VGN-FW160E/H Battery

Cincinnati law practice and marriage

Hayes moved to Cincinnati in 1850, and opened a law office with John W. Herron, a lawyer from Chillicothe. Later, Herron joined a more established firm and Hayes formed a new partnership with William K. Rogers and Richard M. Corwine.Sony VAIO VGN-FW160F/E Battery

Hayes found business better in Cincinnati, and enjoyed the social attractions of the larger city, joining the Cincinnati Literary Society and the Odd Fellows Club.[25] He also attended the Episcopal Church in Cincinnati but did not become a member.[25] Hayes courted his future wife, Lucy Webb, during his time there.Sony VAIO VGN-FW170J/H Battery

His mother had encouraged him to get to know Lucy years earlier, but Hayes had believed she was too young and focused his attention on other women.[27] Four years later, Hayes began to spend more time with Lucy. They became engaged in 1851 and married on December 30, 1852, at the house of Lucy's mother.Sony VAIO VGN-FW180AE Battery

Over the next five years, Lucy gave birth to three sons: Birchard Austin (1853), Webb Cook (1856), and Rutherford Platt (1858).[24]Lucy, a Methodist, teetotaler, and abolitionist, influenced her husband's views on those issues, although he never formally joined her church.Sony VAIO VGN-FW180D Battery

Hayes had begun his law practice dealing primarily with commercial cases but won greater prominence in Cincinnati as a criminal defense attorney,[29]defending several people accused of murder.[30] In one, he used a form of the insanity defense that saved the accused from the gallows, confining her instead to a mental institution.Sony VAIO VGN-FW180E Battery

Hayes found his services requested to defend escaped slaves accused under the recently passed Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.[32] As Cincinnati was just across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, many such cases were tried in its courts. Sony VAIO VGN-FW180E/H Battery

A staunch abolitionist, Hayes found his work on behalf of fugitive slaves personally gratifying as well as politically useful, as it raised his profile in the newly formed Republican party. His political reputation rose with his professional plaudits. Hayes declined the Republican nomination for a judgeship in 1856.Sony VAIO VGN-FW180FU Battery

Two years later, some Republicans proposed Hayes to fill a vacancy on the bench and he considered accepting the appointment until the office of city solicitor also became vacant. The city council elected Hayes to fill the vacancy, and he won a full two-year term from the voters in April 1859 with a larger majority than other Republicans on theticket.Sony VAIO VGN-FW190EBH Battery

West Virginia and South Mountain

As the Southern states began to secede after Lincoln's election to the Presidency in 1860, Hayes was lukewarm on the idea of a civil war to restore the Union. Considering that the two sides might be irreconcilable, he suggested that the Union "[l]et them go."Sony VAIO VGN-FW190ECH Battery

Although Ohio had voted for Lincoln in 1860, the Cincinnati voters turned against the Republican party after secession, and the Democrats and Know-Nothings combined to sweep the city elections in April 1861, ejecting Hayes from the city solicitor's office.Sony VAIO VGN-FW190EDH Battery

Hayes formed a new law partnership with Leopold Markbreit and returned to private practice. After the Confederates had fired on Fort Sumter, Hayes resolved his doubts and joined a volunteer company composed of his Literary Society friends.Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NAH Battery

That June, Governor William Dennison appointed several of the officers of the volunteer company to positions in the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Hayes was promoted to major, and his friend and college classmate Stanley Matthews was appointed lieutenant colonel;Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NBH Battery

also joining the regiment as a private was another future president, William McKinley.

After a month of training, Hayes and the 23rd Ohio set out for western Virginia in July 1861 as a part of the Kanawha Division.Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NCH Battery

They passed the next few months out of contact with the enemy until September, when the regiment encountered Confederates at Carnifex Ferry in present-day West Virginia and drove them back. In November, Hayes was promoted to lieutenant colonel (Matthews having been promoted to colonel of another regiment) Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NDH Battery

and led his troops deeper into western Virginia, where they entered winter quarters. The division resumed its advance the following spring, and Hayes led several raids against the rebel forces, on one of which he sustained a minor injury to his knee.Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NEH Battery

That September, Hayes's regiment was called east to reinforce General John Pope's Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Although Hayes and his troops did not arrive in time for the battle, they joined the Army of the Potomac as it hurried north to cut off Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, which was advancing into Maryland.Sony VAIO VGN-FW198U/H Battery

Marching north, the 23rd was the lead regiment encountering the Confederates at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14. Hayes led a charge against an entrenched position and was shot through his left arm, fracturing the bone. The regiment continued on to Antietam, but Hayes was out of action for the rest of the campaign.Sony VAIO VGN-FW260J/B Battery

In October, he was promoted to colonel and assigned to command of the first brigade of the Kanawha Division as a brevet brigadier general.

Army of the Shenandoah

The division spent the following winter and spring near Charleston, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), out of contact with the enemy.Sony VAIO VGN-FW280J/H Battery

Hayes saw little action until July 1863, when the division skirmished with John Hunt Morgan's cavalry at the Battle of Buffington Island. Returning to Charleston for the rest of the summer, Hayes spent the fall encouraging the men of the 23rd Ohio to re-enlist, and many did so.Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JRB Battery

In 1864, the Army command structure in West Virginia was reorganized, and Hayes's division was assigned to George Crook's Army of West Virginia. Advancing into southwestern Virginia, they destroyed Confederate salt and lead mines there. On May 9, they engaged Confederate troops at Cloyd's Mountain,Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTB Battery

where Hayes and his men charged the enemy entrenchments and drove the rebels from the field. Following the rout, the Union forces destroyed Confederate supplies and skirmished with the enemy again successfully.

Hayes and his brigade moved to the Shenandoah Valley for the Valley Campaigns of 1864.Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTH Battery

Crook's corps was attached to Major General David Hunter's Army of the Shenandoah and soon back in contact with Confederate forces, capturing Lexington, Virginia on June 11. They continued south toward Lynchburg, tearing up railroad track as they advanced.Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTW Battery

Hunter believed the troops at Lynchburg were too powerful, however, and Hayes and his brigade returned to West Virginia. Hayes thought that Hunter lacked aggression, writing in a letter home that "General Crook would have taken Lynchburg."Sony VAIO VGN-FW355J/H Battery

Before the army could make another attempt, Confederate General Jubal Early's raid into Maryland forced their recall to the north. Early's army surprised them atKernstown on July 24, where Hayes was slightly wounded from a bullet to the shoulder.[55] Hayes also had a horse shot out from under him, and the army was defeated.Sony VAIO VGN-FW373J/B Battery

Retreating into Maryland, the army was reorganized again, with Major General Philip Sheridan replacing Hunter. By August, Early was retreating down the valley, with Sheridan in pursuit. Hayes's troops fended off a Confederate assault at Berryville and advanced to Opequon Creek, where they broke the enemy lines and pursued them farther south.Sony VAIO VGN-FW30B Battery

They followed up the victory with another at Fisher's Hill on September 22, and one more at Cedar Creek on October 19.[58] At Cedar Creek, Hayes sprained his ankle after being thrown from a horse and was struck in the head by a spent round, which did not cause serious damage.Sony VAIO VGN-FW50B Battery

Hayes's conduct drew the attention of his superiors, with Ulysses S. Grant later writing of Hayes that "[h]is conduct on the field was marked by conspicuous gallantry as well as the display of qualities of a higher order than that of mere personal daring."Sony VAIO VGN-FW51B/W Battery

Cedar Creek marked the end of the campaign. Hayes was promoted to brigadier general in October 1864 and brevetted major general. Around this time, Hayes learned of the birth of another son, George Crook Hayes. The army went into winter quarters once more, and in spring 1865 the war quickly came to a close with Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. Sony VAIO VGN-FW51MF Battery

Hayes visited Washington, D.C.that May and observed the Grand Review of the Armies, after which he and the 23rd Ohio returned to their home state to be mustered out of the service.

While serving in the Army of the Shenandoah in 1864, Hayes received the Republican nomination to the House of Representatives from Ohio's 2nd congressional district.Sony VAIO VGN-FW51MF/H Battery

Asked by friends in Cincinnati to leave the army to campaign, Hayes refused, saying that an "officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped." Instead, Hayes wrote several letters to the voters explaining his political positions and was elected by a 2,400-vote majority over the incumbent Democrat, Alexander Long.Sony VAIO VGN-FW51ZF Battery

When the 39th Congress assembled in December 1865, Hayes was sworn in as a part of a large Republican majority. Hayes identified with the moderate wing of the party, but was willing to vote with theradicals for the sake of party unity. The major legislative effort of the Congress was the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,Sony VAIO VGN-FW51ZF/H Battery

for which Hayes voted and which passed both houses of Congress in June 1866. Hayes's beliefs were in line with his fellow Republicans on Reconstruction issues: that the South should be restored to the Union, but not without adequate protections for black southerners.Sony VAIO VGN-FW52JB Battery

President Andrew Johnson, to the contrary, wanted to readmit the seceded states quickly without first ensuring that they adopted laws protecting the newly freed slaves' civil rights and granted pardons to many of the leading former Confederates.[65] Hayes, along with congressional Republicans, disagreed. Sony VAIO VGN-FW54FB Battery

They worked to reject Johnson's vision of Reconstruction and to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866.[66] Re-elected in 1866, Hayes returned to the lame-duck session to vote for the Tenure of Office Act, which ensured that Johnson could not remove administration officials without the Senate's consent.Sony VAIO VGN-FW70DB Battery

He also voted for a civil service reform bill that attracted the votes of many reform-minded Republicans, but did not pass.[68] Hayes continued to vote with the majority in the 40th Congress on the Reconstruction Acts, but resigned in July 1867 to campaign for governor.Sony VAIO VGN-FW71DB/W Battery

Governor of Ohio

A popular Congressman and former soldier, Hayes was considered by Ohio Republicans to be an excellent standard-bearer for the 1867 election campaign. Hayes's political views were more moderate than the Republican party's platform, although he agreed with the proposed amendment to the Ohio state constitution that would guarantee suffrage to black Ohioans.Sony VAIO VGN-FW72JGB Battery

Hayes's opponent, Allen G. Thurman, made the proposed amendment the centerpiece of the campaign, and both men campaigned vigorously, making speeches across the state, mostly focusing on the suffrage question. The election was mostly a disappointment to Republicans, as the amendment failed to pass and Democrats gained a majority in the state legislature.Sony VAIO VGN-FW73JGB Battery

Hayes thought at first that he, too, had lost, but the final tally showed that he had won the election by 2,983 votes of 484,603 votes cast.[71]

As a Republican governor with a Democratic legislature, Hayes had a limited role in governing, especially since Ohio's governor had no veto power.Sony VAIO VGN-FW74FB Battery

Despite the restrictions of the office, Hayes used his office to oversee the establishment of a school for deaf-mutes and a reform school for girls.[72] He also endorsed the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and urged his conviction, which failed by one vote in the United States Senate.Sony VAIO VGN-FW81HS Battery

Nominated for a second term in 1869, Hayes campaigned once more for equal rights for black Ohioans and sought to associate his Democratic opponent,George H. Pendleton with disunion and racism. Hayes was re-elected with an increased majority, and the Republicans took the legislature, Sony VAIO VGN-FW81NS Battery

ensuring Ohio's ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed black suffrage.[74] With a Republican legislature, Hayes's second term was more enjoyable, and he was gratified to see suffrage expanded and a state Agricultural and Mechanical College (later to become Ohio State University) established.Sony VAIO VGN-FW81S Battery

He also proposed a reduction in state taxes and reform of the state prison system.[76] Choosing not to seek re-election, Hayes looked forward to retiring from politics in 1872.

Private life and return to politics

As Hayes prepared to leave office, several delegations of reform-minded Republicans urged him to run against the incumbent Republican, John Sherman, forUnited States Senate.Sony VAIO VGN-FW82DS Battery

Hayes declined the offers, preferring to preserve party unity and retire to private life. Hayes especially looked forward to spending time with his children, two of whom (daughter Fanny and son Scott) had been born in the past five years. Initially, Hayes tried to promote railway extensions to his hometown,Sony VAIO VGN-FW82JS Battery

Fremont, and spent the rest of his time managing some real estate he had acquired in Duluth, Minnesota.[80] Not entirely removed from politics, Hayes held out some hope of a cabinet appointment, but was disappointed to receive only an appointment as assistant U.S. treasurer at Cincinnati, which he turned down.Sony VAIO VGN-FW82XS Battery

He also allowed himself to be nominated for his old House seat in 1872 but was not disappointed when he lost the election to Henry B. Banning, a fellow Kenyon College alumnus.[82] In 1873, Lucy gave birth to another son, Manning Force Hayes. That same year, the Panic of 1873 hurt business prospects across the nation, including Hayes's. Sony VAIO VGN-FW83DS Battery

Sardis Birchard died that year and the Hayes family moved into Spiegel Grove, the grand house Birchard had built with them in mind.[85] Hayes hoped to remain out of politics in order to pay off the debts he had incurred during the Panic, but when the Republican state convention nominated him for governor in 1875, he accepted.Sony VAIO VGN-FW83JS Battery

The campaign against Democratic nominee William Allen focused primarily on Protestant fears of the possibility of state aid to Catholic schools.[87] Hayes was against such funding and, while he was not known to be personally anti-Catholic, he allowed anti-Catholic fervor to contribute to the enthusiasm for his candidacy.Sony VAIO VGN-FW83XS Battery

The campaign was a success, and Hayes was returned to the governorship by a 5,544-vote majority.

Republican nomination and campaign against Tilden

Hayes's success in Ohio immediately elevated him to the top ranks of Republican politicians under consideration for the presidency in 1876.Sony VAIO VGN-FW90HS Battery

The Ohio delegation to the 1876 Republican National Convention was united behind him, and Senator John Sherman did all in his power to bring Hayes the nomination. In June 1876, the convention assembled with James G. Blaine of Maine as the favorite.Sony VAIO VGN-FW90NS Battery

Blaine started with a significant lead in the delegate count but could not muster a majority. As he failed to gain votes, the delegates looked elsewhere for a nominee and settled on Hayes on the seventh ballot. The convention then selected Representative William A.Sony VAIO VGN-FW90S Battery

Wheeler of New York for Vice President, a man about whom Hayes had recently asked "I am ashamed to say: who is Wheeler?"

The Democratic nominee was Samuel J. Tilden, the Governor of New York. Tilden was considered a formidable adversary who, like Hayes, had a reputation for honesty.Sony VAIO VGN-FW91NS Battery

Also like Hayes, Tilden was a hard-money man and supported civil service reform. The campaign, in accordance with the custom of the time, was conducted by surrogates, with Hayes and Tilden remaining in their respective home towns. The poor economic conditions made the party in power unpopular and made Hayes suspect that he might lose the election.Sony VAIO VGN-FW91S Battery

Both candidates focused their attention on the swing states of New York and Indiana, as well as the three southern states—Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida—where Reconstruction governments still ruled.The Republicans emphasized the danger of letting Democrats run the nation so soon after southern Democrats provoked the Civil War and, Sony VAIO VGN-FW92DS Battery

to a lesser extent, the danger a Democratic administration would pose to the recently won civil rights of southern blacks.[97]Democrats, for their part, trumpeted Tilden's record of reform and contrasted it with the corruption of the incumbent Grant administration.Sony VAIO VGN-FW92JS Battery

As the returns were tallied on election day, it was clear that the race was close: Democrats had carried most of the South, as well as New York, Indiana,Connecticut, and New Jersey. The popular vote also favored Tilden, but Republicans realized that if they held the three unredeemed southern states together with some of the western states, they would emerge with an electoral college majority.Sony VAIO VGN-FW93DS Battery

Disputed electoral votes

On November 10, three days after election day, Tilden appeared to have won 184 electoral votes: one short of a majority.[101] Hayes appeared to have 165 votes, with the 19 votes of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina still in doubt.Sony VAIO VGN-FW93JS Battery

Because of fraud by both parties in the three disputed states, the results were uncertain, and Republicans and Democrats both claimed victories there.[102] To further complicate matters, one of the three electors from Oregon (a state Hayes had won) was disqualified, reducing Hayes's total to 164.Sony VAIO VGN-FW93XS Battery

If either candidate could claim the 20 disputed votes, he would be elected president.

There was considerable debate about which person or house of Congress was authorized to decide between the competing slates of electors, with the Republican Senate and the Democratic House each claiming priority.Sony VAIO VGN-FW94FS Battery

By January 1877, with the question still unresolved, Congress agreed to submit the matter to a bipartisan Electoral Commission, which would be authorized to determine the fate of the disputed electoral votes. The Commission was to be made up of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices.Sony VAIO VGN-FW94GS Battery

To ensure partisan balance, there would be seven Democrats and seven Republicans, with Justice David Davis, an independent respected by both parties, being the fifteenth member. The balance was upset when Democrats in the Illinois legislature elected Davis to the Senate, hoping to sway his vote.Sony VAIO VGN-FW94HS Battery

Davis disappointed Democrats, however, by refusing to serve on the Commission on account of his election to the Senate.[108] As all of the remaining Justices were Republicans, Justice Joseph P. Bradley, believed to be the most independent-minded of them, was selected to take Davis's place on the Commission.Sony VAIO VGN-NS10E/S Battery

The Commission met in February and the eight Republicans voted to award all 20 electoral votes to Hayes. Democrats were outraged by the result and attempted a filibuster to prevent Congress from accepting the Commission's findings.Sony VAIO VGN-NS10J/S Battery

As the March 4 inauguration day neared, Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised that, in exchange for Democratic acquiescence in the Committee's decision, Sony VAIO VGN-NS10L/S Battery

Hayes would withdraw federal troops from the South and accept the election of Democratic governments in the last of the unredeemed South.[112] The Democrats agreed, and the filibuster was ended. Hayes was elected, but Reconstruction was finished.Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/L Battery

Inauguration

Because March 4, 1877 fell on a Sunday, Hayes took the oath of office privately on Saturday, March 3, in the Red Room of the White House. He took the oath publicly on the following Monday on the East Portico of the United States Capitol.Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/S Battery

In his inaugural address, Hayes attempted to soothe the passions of the past few months, saying that "he serves his party best who serves his country best".[115] He pledged to support "wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government" in the South, as well as reform of the civil service and a full return to the gold standard.Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/W Battery

Despite his message of conciliation, many Democrats never considered Hayes's election legitimate and referred to him as "Rutherfraud" or "His Fraudulency" for the next four years.

Civil rights and the end of Reconstruction

Hayes had been a firm supporter of Republican Reconstruction policies throughout his political career, but the first major act of his presidency was an end to Reconstruction and the return of the South to home rule.Sony VAIO VGN-NS115N/S Battery

Even without the conditions of the Wormley's Hotel agreement, Hayes would have been hard-pressed to continue the policies of his predecessors. The House of Representatives in the 45th Congress was controlled by a Democratic majority that refused to appropriate enough funds for the army to continue to garrison the South.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11J/S Battery

Even among Republicans, devotion to continued military Reconstruction was fading.[120] Only two states were still under Reconstruction's sway when Hayes assumed the Presidency and, without troops to enforce the voting rights laws, these too soon fell.Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/L Battery

Hayes's later attempts to protect the rights of southern blacks were ineffective, as were his attempts to rebuild Republican strength in the South. He did, however, defeat Congress's efforts to curtail federal power to monitor federal elections. Democrats in Congress passed an army appropriation bill in 1879 with a rider that repealed the Force Acts.Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/S Battery

Those Acts, passed during Reconstruction, made it a crime to prevent someone from voting because of his race. Hayes was determined to preserve the law protecting black voters, and he vetoed the appropriation. The Democrats did not have enough votes to override the veto, but they passed a new bill with the same rider. Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/W Battery

Hayes vetoed this as well, and the process was repeated three times more. Finally, Hayes signed an appropriation without the offensive rider, but Congress refused to pass another bill to fund federal marshals, who were vital to the enforcement of the Force Acts.Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/L Battery

The election laws remained in effect, but the funds to enforce them were curtailed for the time being.

Hayes next attempted to reconcile the social mores of the South with the recently passed civil rights laws by distributing patronage among southern Democrats. Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/S Battery

"My task was to wipe out the color line, to abolish sectionalism, to end the war and bring peace," he wrote in his diary. "To do this, I was ready to resort to unusual measures and to risk my own standing and reputation within my party and the country." All of his efforts were in vain; Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/W Battery

Hayes failed to convince the South to accept the idea of racial equality and failed to convince Congress to appropriate funds to enforce the civil rights laws.

Civil service reform

Hayes took office determined to reform the system of civil service appointments, which had been based on the spoils system since Andrew Jackson was president.Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/L Battery

Instead of giving federal jobs to political supporters, Hayes wished to award them by merit according to an examination that all applicants would take. Immediately, Hayes's call for reform brought him into conflict with the Stalwart, or pro-spoils, branch of the Republican party. Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/S Battery

Senators of both parties were accustomed to being consulted about political appointments and turned against Hayes. Foremost among his enemies was New York SenatorRoscoe Conkling, who fought Hayes's reform efforts at every turn.To show his commitment to reform,Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/W Battery

Hayes appointed one of the best-known advocates of reform, Carl Schurz, to be Secretary of the Interior and asked Schurz and William M. Evarts, his Secretary of State, to lead a special cabinet committee charged with drawing up new rules for federal appointments.Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/L Battery

John Sherman, the Treasury Secretary, ordered John Jay to investigate the New York Custom House, which was stacked with Conkling's spoilsmen.[129] Jay's report suggested that the New York Custom House was so overstaffed with political appointments that 20% of the employees were expendible.Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/P Battery

Although he could not convince Congress to outlaw the spoils system, Hayes issued an executive order that forbade federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise taking part in party politics.[132] Chester A. Arthur, the Collector of the Port of New York, and his subordinatesAlonzo B. Cornell and George H. Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/S Battery

Sharpe, all Conkling supporters, refused to obey the president's order. In September 1877, Hayes demanded the three men's resignations, which they refused to give. Nonetheless, he submitted appointments of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., L. Bradford Prince, and Edwin Merritt—all supporters of Evarts, Conkling's New York rival—to the Senate for confirmation as their replacements.Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/W Battery

The Senate's Commerce Committee, which Conkling chaired, voted unanimously to reject the nominees, and the full Senate rejected Roosevelt and Prince by a vote of 31–25, confirming Merritt only because Sharpe's term had expired. Hayes was forced to wait until July 1878 when, during a Congressional recess, Sony VAIO VGN-NS240E/L Battery

he sacked Arthur and Cornell and replaced them by recess appointments of Merritt and Silas W. Burt, respectively. Conkling opposed the appointees' confirmation when the Senate reconvened in February 1879, but Merritt was approved by a vote of 31–25, as was Burt by 31–19, giving Hayes his most significant civil service reform victory.Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/L Battery

For the remainder of his term, Hayes pressed Congress to enact permanent reform legislation, even using his last annual message to Congress on December 6, 1880 to appeal for reform. While reform legislation did not pass during Hayes's presidency, his advocacy provided "a significant precedent as well as the political impetus for the Pendleton Act of 1883," which was signed into law by President Chester Arthur. Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/S Battery

Hayes also dealt with corruption in the postal service. In 1880, Schurz and Senator John A. Logan asked Hayes to shut down the "star route" rings, a system of corrupt contract profiteering in the Postal Service, and to fire Second Assistant Postmaster-General Thomas J. Brady, the alleged ring leader.Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/L Battery

Hayes stopped granting new star route contracts, but let existing contracts continue to be enforced. Hayes' Postmaster General, Horace Maynard, said that the public only cared their mail was delivered with "certainty, celerity, and security," not about the methods by which postal routes were contracted.Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/W Battery

The Detroit Free Press stated that Hayes delayed proper investigation so as not to injure Republican chances in the 1880 elections,[139] but historian Hans L. Trefoussewould later write that Hayes "hardly knew the chief suspect [Brady] and certainly had no connection with the [star route] corruption."Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/L Battery

Although Hayes and the Congress both looked into the contracts and found no compelling evidence of wrongdoing, Brady and others were indicted for conspiracy in 1882.[143] After two trials, Brady was found not guilty in 1883.Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/P Battery

Great Railroad Strike

In his first year in office, Hayes was faced with the United States' largest labor disturbance to date: the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.[145] In order to make up for financial losses suffered since the panic of 1873, the major railroads cut their employees' wages several times in 1877.Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/W Battery

In July of that year, workers from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad walked off the job in Martinsburg, West Virginia to protest their reduction in pay.[147] The strike quickly spread to workers of the New York Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania railroads, with the strikers soon numbering in the thousands.Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/L Battery

Fearing a riot, Governor Henry M. Mathewsasked Hayes to send federal troops to Martinsburg, and Hayes did so, but when the troops arrived there was no riot, only a peaceful protest. In Baltimore, however, a riot did erupt on July 20 and Hayes ordered the troops at Fort McHenry to assist the governor in its suppression; by the time they arrived, the riot had dispersed.Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/P Battery

Pittsburgh next exploded into riots, but Hayes was reluctant to send in troops without the governor first requesting them.Other discontented citizens joined the railroad workers in rioting. After a few days, he resolved to send in troops to protect federal property wherever it appeared to be threatened and gave Major General Winfield Scott Hancock overall command of the situation,Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/W Battery

marking the first use of federal troops to break a strike against a private company.[148] The riot spread further, to Chicago and St. Louis, where strikers shut down railroad facilities. By July 29, the riots had ended and federal troops returned to their barracks.Sony VAIO VGN-NS70B/W Battery

Although no federal troops had killed any of the strikers, or been killed themselves, clashes between state militia troops and strikers resulted in deaths on both sides. The railroads were victorious in the short term, as the workers returned to their jobs and some wage cuts remained in effect, Sony VAIO VGN-NS71B/W Battery

but the public blamed the railroads for the strikes and violence, and they were compelled to improve working conditions and attempted no further cuts. Business leaders praised Hayes, but his own opinion was more equivocal; as he recorded in his diary: "The strikes have been put down by force;Sony VAIO VGN-NS72JB/W Battery

but now for the real remedy. Can't something [be] done by education of strikers, by judicious control of capitalists, by wise general policy to end or diminish the evil? The railroad strikers, as a rule, are good men, sober, intelligent, and industrious."Sony VAIO VGN-NS90HS Battery

Currency debate

Hayes confronted two issues regarding the currency. The first was the coinage of silver, and its relation to gold. In 1873, the Coinage Act of 1873 stopped the coinage of silver for all coins worth a dollar or more, effectively tying the dollar to the value of gold. Sony VAIO VGN-NS92JS Battery

As a result, the money supply contracted and the effects of the Panic of 1873 grew worse, making it more expensive for debtors to pay debts they had contracted when currency was less valuable. Farmers and laborers, especially, clamored for the return of coinage in both metals, believing the increased money supply would restore wages and property values.Sony VAIO VGN-NS92XS Battery

Democratic Representative Richard P. Bland of Missouri proposed a bill that would require the United States to coin as much silver as miners could sell the government, thus increasing the money supply and aiding debtors. William B. Allison, a Republican from Iowa offered an amendment in the Senate limiting the coinage to two to four million dollars per month,Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery

and the resulting Bland–Allison Act passed both houses of Congress in 1878. Hayes feared that the Act would cause inflation that would be ruinous to business, effectively impairing contracts that were based on the gold dollar, as the silver dollar proposed in the bill would have an intrinsic value of 90 to 92 percent of the existing gold dollar.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery

Further, Hayes believed that inflating the currency was an act of dishonesty, saying "[e]xpediency and justice both demand an honest currency."[158] He vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode his veto, the only time it did so during his presidency. Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF Battery

The second issue concerned United States Notes (commonly called greenbacks), a form of fiat currency first issued during the Civil War. The government accepted these notes as valid for payment of taxes and tariffs, but unlike ordinary dollars, they were not redeemable in gold.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W Battery

The Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 required the treasury to redeem any outstanding greenbacks in gold, thus retiring them from circulation and restoring a single, gold-backed currency. Sherman agreed with Hayes's favorable opinion of the Act, and stockpiled gold in preparation for the exchange of greenbacks for gold.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF Battery

Once the public was confident that they could redeem greenbacks for specie (gold), however, few did so; when the Act took effect in 1879, only $130,000 out of the $346,000,000 outstanding dollars in greenbacks were actually redeemed. Together with the Bland–Allison Act, Sony VAIO VGN-NW31EF/W Battery

the successful specie resumption effected a workable compromise between inflationists and hard money men and, as the world economy began to improve, agitation for more greenbacks and silver coinage quieted down for the rest of Hayes's term in office.Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF Battery

Foreign policy

Most of Hayes's foreign policy concerns involved Latin America. In 1878, following the War of the Triple Alliance, he arbitrated a territorial dispute betweenArgentina and Paraguay. Hayes awarded the disputed land in the Gran Chaco region to Paraguay, and the Paraguayans honored him by renaming a city (Villa Hayes) and a department (Presidente Hayes) in his honor.Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B Battery

Hayes was also perturbed over the plans of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of theSuez Canal, to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, which was then owned by Colombia.[162] Concerned about a repetition of French adventurism in Mexico, Hayes interpreted the Monroe Doctrine firmly.Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/TC Battery

In a message to Congress, Hayes explained his opinion on the canal: "The policy of this country is a canal under American control ... The United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control to any European power or any combination of European powers."Sony VAIO VGN-NW35E Battery

The Mexican border also drew Hayes's attention. Throughout the 1870s, "lawless bands" often crossed the border on raids into Texas. Three months after taking office, Hayes granted the Army the power to pursue bandits, even if it required crossing into Mexican territory.Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/S Battery

Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican president, protested the order and sent troops to the border. The situation calmed as Díaz and Hayes agreed to jointly pursue bandits and Hayes agreed not to allow Mexican revolutionaries to raise armies in the United States. Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/T Battery

The violence along the border decreased, and in 1880 Hayes revoked the order allowing pursuit into Mexico.

Outside of the Western hemisphere, Hayes's biggest foreign policy concern dealt with China. In 1868, the Senate had ratified the Burlingame Treaty with China, allowing an unrestricted flow of Chinese immigrants into the country. Sony VAIO VGN-NW50JB Battery

As the economy soured after the Panic of 1873, Chinese immigrants were blamed for depressing workmen's wages.[167] During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, anti-Chinese riots broke out in San Francisco, and a third party, theWorkingman's Party, was formed with an emphasis on stopping Chinese immigration.Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/N Battery

In response, Congress passed a Chinese Exclusion Act in 1879, abrogating the 1868 treaty.[168] Hayes vetoed the bill, believing that the United States should not abrogate treaties without negotiation.[168] The veto drew praise among eastern liberals, but Hayes was bitterly denounced in the West.Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/W Battery

In the subsequent furor, Democrats in the House of Representatives attempted to impeach him, but narrowly failed when Republicans prevented a quorum by refusing to vote. After the veto, Assistant Secretary of State Frederick W. Sony VAIO VGN-NW70JB Battery

Seward suggested that both countries work together to reduce immigration, and he and James Burrill Angell negotiated with the Chinese to do so.[169] Congress passed a new law to that effect, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, after Hayes left office.Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/N Battery

Hayes's White House

Hayes and his wife, Lucy, were known for their policy of keeping an alcohol-free White House, giving rise to her nickname "Lemonade Lucy." The first reception at the Hayes White House includedwine. However, Hayes was dismayed at drunken behavior at receptions hosted by ambassadors around Washington, leading him to follow his wife's temperance leanings.Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/W Battery

Alcohol was not served again in the Hayes White House. Critics charged Hayes with parsimony, but Hayes spent more money (which came out of his personal budget) after the ban, ordering that any savings from eliminating alcohol be used on more lavish entertainment.Sony VAIO VGN-NW91FS Battery

His temperance policy also paid political dividends, strengthening his support among Protestant ministers.Although Secretary Evarts quipped that at the White House dinners, "water flowed like wine," the policy was a success in convincing prohibitionists to vote Republican.Sony VAIO VGN-NW91GS Battery

Supreme Court appointments

Hayes appointed two Associate Justices to the Supreme Court. The first vacancy occurred when David Davis resigned to enter the Senate during the election controversy of 1876. On taking office, Hayes appointed John Marshall Harlan to the seat. Sony VAIO VGN-NW91VS Battery

A former candidate for governor of Kentucky, Harlan had beenBenjamin Bristow's campaign manager at the 1876 Republican convention, and Hayes had earlier considered him for Attorney General. Hayes submitted the nomination in October 1877, but it aroused some dissent in the Senate because of Harlan's limited experience in public office.Sony VAIO VGN-SR11M Battery

Harlan was nonetheless confirmed and served on the court for thirty-four years, in which he voted (usually in the minority) for an aggressive enforcement of the civil rights laws. In 1880, a second seat became vacant on the resignation of Justice William Strong. Hayes nominated William Burnham Woods, a carpetbaggerRepublican circuit court judge from Alabama.Sony VAIO VGN-SR11MR Battery

Woods served six years on the Court, ultimately proving a disappointment to Hayes as he interpreted the Constitution in a manner more similar to that of Southern Democrats than to Hayes's own preferences.

Hayes attempted, unsuccessfully, to fill a third vacancy in 1881. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D Battery

Justice Noah Haynes Swayne resigned with the expectation that Hayes would fill his seat by appointing Stanley Matthews, who was a friend of both men. Many Senators objected to the appointment, believing that Mathews was too close to corporate and railroad interests, especially those of Jay Gould.Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/B Battery

The Senate adjourned without voting on the nomination. The following year, whenJames A. Garfield entered the White House, he re-submitted Mathews's nomination. This time, the Senate did vote, confirming Mathews by one vote, 24 to 23. Mathews served for eight years until his death in 1889. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/P Battery

His opinion in Yick Wo v. Hopkins in 1886 advanced his and Hayes's views on the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities.

Post-Presidency

Hayes decided not to seek re-election in 1880, keeping his pledge that he would not run for a second term. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/S Battery

He was gratified with the election of James A. Garfield to succeed him, and consulted with him on appointments for the next administration. After Garfield's inauguration, Hayes and his family returned to Spiegel Grove. Although he remained a loyal Republican, Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E Battery

Hayes was not too disappointed in Grover Cleveland's election to the Presidency in 1884, approving of the New York Democrat's views on civil service reform. He was also pleased at the progress of the political career of William McKinley, his army comrade and political protégé.Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/B Battery

Hayes became an active advocate for educational charities, advocating federal education subsidies for all children. He believed that education was the best way to heal the rifts in American society and allow individuals to improve themselves. Hayes was appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University, the school he helped found during his time as governor of Ohio, in 1887.Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/P Battery

He emphasized the need for vocational, as well as academic, education: "I preach the gospel of work," he wrote, "I believe in skilled labor as a part of education."[188] He urged Congress, unsuccessfully, to pass a bill written by Senator Henry W. Blair that would have allowed federal aid for education for the first time.Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/S Battery

Hayes gave a speech in 1889 encouraging black students to apply for scholarships from the Slater Fund, one of the charities with which he was affiliated. One such student, W. E. B. Du Bois, received a scholarship in 1892. Hayes also advocated better prison conditions.Sony VAIO VGN-SR140N/S Battery

In retirement, Hayes was troubled by the disparity between the rich and the poor, saying in an 1886 speech that "free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and a support in old age."Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/B Battery

The following year, Hayes recorded his thoughts on that subject in his diary:

"In church it occurred to me that it is time for the public to hear that the giant evil and danger in this country, the danger which transcends all others, is the vast wealth owned or controlled by a few persons. Money is power.Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/P Battery

In Congress, in state legislatures, in city councils, in the courts, in the political conventions, in the press, in the pulpit, in the circles of the educated and the talented, its influence is growing greater and greater. Excessive wealth in the hands of the few means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot of the many. Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/S Battery

It is not yet time to debate about the remedy. The previous question is as to the danger—the evil. Let the people be fully informed and convinced as to the evil. Let them earnestly seek the remedy and it will be found. Fully to know the evil is the first step towards reaching its eradication.Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBJ Battery

Henry George is strong when he portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, not yet ready for his remedy. We may reach and remove the difficulty by changes in the laws regulating corporations, descents of property, wills, trusts, taxation, and a host of other important interests, not omitting lands and other property."Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBQ Battery

Hayes was greatly saddened by his wife's death in 1889. He wrote that "the soul had left [Spiegel Grove]" when she died. After Lucy's death, Hayes's daughter, Fanny, became his traveling companion and he enjoyed visits from his grandchildren. In 1890, he chaired the Lake Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question, a gathering of reformers that discussed racial issues.Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EEJ/C Battery

Hayes died of complications of a heart attack at his home on January 17, 1893.His last words were "I know that I'm going where Lucy is."[197] President-elect Grover Cleveland and Ohio Governor William McKinley led the funeral procession that followed Hayes's body until he was interred in Oakwood Cemetery.Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NAB Battery

Following the donation of his home to the state of Ohio for the Spiegel Grove State Park, he was re-interred there in 1915. The following year the Hayes Commemorative Library and Museum, the first presidential library in the United States, was opened on the site, funded by contributions from the state of Ohio and Hayes' family.Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NBB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NDB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NEB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NGB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PAB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PCB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PFB Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VRN Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR210J/S Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SR21M/S Battery