Early life

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born on October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio. He was one of three children of Rutherford Hayes, a farmer, and Sophia Birchard. His father died ten weeks before Rutherford was born. Sophia's brother then took over guardianship of the children.

Sophia was very protective of young Rutherford. She did not allow him to play with the children in the neighborhood or go to school. She herself taught him reading and spelling. At 16 Rutherford was admitted to Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio.

Early career and marriage

Hayes graduated from Kenyon in 1842 and went to Harvard to study law. He received a bachelor of laws degree in 1845. Returning to Ohio, he started a successful law practice in Cincinnati. He also entered local politics as a member of the newly formed Republican Party.

In 1852 Hayes married Lucy Ware Webb, a highly educated and cultured woman. Their first son, Birchard Austin, was born in 1853. Later they had seven more children. Three died in infancy.

Political career

When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Hayes volunteered for service in the Union Army. While in the Army he was nominated and elected to the United States Congress. He took his seat in the House of Representatives in December 1865, after the end of the war. He was reelected to the House in 1866.

In 1867 and again in 1869 Hayes was elected governor of Ohio. After a brief retirement from politics, he won a third term as governor in 1875. His success in this campaign earned him national recognition.

Disputed election of 1876

In 1876 Hayes was chosen as the Republican candidate for president. His Democratic opponent was Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York. Tilden won the popular vote, and early results indicated that he had won in the electoral college as well. Hayes's supporters, however, challenged the votes from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. This dispute came to be known as the Tilden-Hayes affair. Months of uncertainty followed.

Finally, in January 1877, Congress established a commission to decide the dispute. On March 2 the commission, made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, decided in favor of Hayes. The final electoral vote was 185 for Hayes to 184 for Tilden.

Presidency

As president, Hayes ended the long period known as Reconstruction in the South that followed the Civil War. In 1877 he withdrew the last federal troops from Southern states that were still under military control. Hayes also promised not to interfere with Southern elections. He appointed Southerners to federal offices and approved funding for improvements in the South.

Hayes's policies toward the South angered conservative Republicans known as the Stalwarts. The president further offended this group with his efforts to end the corrupt “spoils system.” According to this practice, government jobs were given to party workers as a reward for securing votes. Hayes tried to reform the civil service by basing appointments on examination results instead of politics. Congress refused to pass civil-service laws. Hayes succeeded, however, in awakening public interest on the issue.

Another achievement of Hayes's term was the return to a stable paper currency backed by gold. This meant that every paper dollar the federal government printed was matched by a gold dollar that the government kept in reserve. This increased the public's confidence in the money supply. Hayes's so-called hard-money policy helped pull the country out of an economic depression.

Retirement

Hayes had said before his election that he would not be a candidate for a second term. Therefore he refused renomination by the Republican Party in 1880. In retirement in Ohio, he devoted himself to humanitarian causes such as prison reform and education for Southern blacks. He died in Fremont, Ohio, on January 17, 1893.