#19 Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881

Family Father:Rutherford Hayes Mother:Sophia Birchard Hayes Sibling: Sister Fannyh A. Platt. Wife:Lucy Ware Webb Children:Four sons and one daughter. Father was a merchant and a farmer.

Background Rutherford was born October 4th,1822 in Delaware, Ohio. He was called Rudd for a nickname as a child. Young Rutherford and his sister Fanny Arabella were raised by their mother and her younger bachelor brother Sardis Birchard who was a successful businessman.

Education Hayes attended school in Delaware Norwalk,Ohio, and Middletown Connecticut. His teachers described him as a well informed and polite. He was given a unusual amount of schooling then on living in Ohio. He attended a Methodist Seminary at Norwalk, then Isaac Webb’s private school at Middletown, Connecticut. (later absorbed in to Wesylan University) and Kenyan College.

Education part 2 He graduated from Kenyon college at Gambier, Ohio in 1842 as class valedictorian. He then went to Columbus to study law and after a year he entered Harvard Law school. He finished in 1185, having become and interesting mixture of New England “gentlemen” and Ohio “Buckeye”.

Marriage Hayes married Lucy Webb in 1852. She was the 1st president’s wife with a college degree. She graduated from Wesleyan Female college in Cincinnati at 18. She was a lady of strong passions and was extremely influential with helping Hayes of his temperance and abolitionism.

Lucy Webb She was the first wife of a president to graduate from college. She was also the first wife of a president to be called “first lady”.

The Hayes’s House

Early Career and Politics Rutherford B. Hayes was a young lawyer in Cincinnati. Hayes become a Major General in the Civil War, but was wounded and had to return to Ohio. He was elected governor 3 times, and eventually served as a member of the US House of Representatives.

Personality Hayes was known as a straight laced man, and thought to be quite religious. Hayes was much like Thomas Jefferson, in that they both liked to improve their houses. In fact Jefferson was the only President that was more involved than Hayes in construction of his own home. His home was a direct reflection of his own personality and character.

Election In the Election of 1876 Hayes (OH, Republican) went Against Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat, NY). Though losing the popular vote he beat Tilden by 1 Electoral vote. The Compromise of 1877 convinced the Democrats that they should accept The Commission's 8-7 vote, which made Hayes the New President.

State Overall votes

Presidency In one of the most controversial and closest presidential elections Hayes managed to become the 19th President. He was the Only president whose election was decided by a congressional commission. Hayes sought out to institute some modest Civil Service reform. He removed Federal Troops from the South, some said as part of the “bargain” that got him elected. He used Federal Troops to put down the Great Railroad Strike. He returned the nation to a strict gold standard. He was the 1st president to have a typewriter and telephone in office. The 1st president to travel to the West Coast during his presidency.

Legacy Though other presidents served in the Civil War, Hayes was the only one to have been wounded. He is known as a decent man, but one who came to power under dubious circumstances. His attempts at Civil Service reform are generally respected, but his removal of troops from the South, is largely blamed for the Jim Crow segregation.