Rutherford B. Hayes Biography Quotes 28 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. His father, Rutherford Hayes Jr., died before his birth, leaving him to be raised by his mother, Sophia Birchard Hayes, and his strong-willed uncle, Sardis Birchard, whose guidance and resources shaped the boy's opportunities. Bright and methodical, Hayes progressed through Ohio schools and graduated from Kenyon College at the top of his class. Determined to enter the law, he continued his studies at Harvard Law School and returned to Ohio to practice. He settled in the fast-growing city of Cincinnati, where legal work, civic activity, and antislavery advocacy brought him into contact with leading figures of the day, including the lawyer and later Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, an influence on Hayes's moderate, legalistic approach to reform.

Law Practice and Family
In Cincinnati, Hayes built a reputation as a careful, unpretentious attorney who handled both civil and criminal matters. He was appointed city solicitor and earned a local following for diligence rather than theatrics. In 1852 he married Lucy Ware Webb, whose moral seriousness, temperance principles, and antislavery convictions complemented his own. Their partnership became central to his public identity; Lucy's example helped shape the tone of the Hayes household and, later, the White House. The couple had several children, though not all survived childhood, and the family ties to Sardis Birchard remained strong through the estate at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio, which became their long-term home.

Civil War Service
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hayes volunteered and became a field officer in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He gained notice for personal bravery and steadiness under fire, suffering a serious wound at South Mountain and serving in subsequent campaigns that included Antietam and the 1864 Shenandoah Valley operations. He rose to command a brigade and, by war's end, received brevet rank as a major general. Among the young officers who served under him was William McKinley, whose diligence and courage Hayes encouraged and later cited as proof that careful merit could be recognized in the maelstrom of war. Hayes's military friendships extended to figures like General George Crook, with whom he served in hard-fought operations in West Virginia and the Valley.

Congressional Career and Governor of Ohio
While still in the field in 1864, Hayes was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He took his seat in 1865 and supported measures to cement Union victory, including constitutional amendments designed to end slavery and establish equal citizenship. Leaving the House to run for governor, he won two consecutive terms beginning in 1868, governing as a pragmatic reformer. He backed investments in public education, advocated fiscal prudence, and called for humane improvements in prisons and asylums. In a period of intense debate over the scope of Reconstruction, he supported civil rights measures and Black suffrage, even as public opinion in Ohio remained divided. After time in private life, he was again elected governor in 1875, sharpening his credentials as an executive known for moderation and integrity.

The Disputed Election of 1876
In 1876 Hayes became the Republican nominee for president, joined on the ticket by William A. Wheeler. He faced Democrat Samuel J. Tilden in one of the most contentious elections in American history. Disputed returns in several Southern states led to a constitutional crisis, resolved only when Congress created an Electoral Commission. The process ended with Hayes's narrow victory and a political understanding later associated with the Compromise of 1877. Figures such as James A. Garfield, John Sherman, and William M. Evarts were important allies during and after the struggle, while opponents like Tilden and party boss Roscoe Conkling contested his course. Hayes entered office pledged to serve a single term and to pursue national reconciliation and administrative reform.

Presidential Leadership and Reform
Hayes sought to restore confidence in government by advancing civil service reform. He appointed reform-minded cabinet members, including William M. Evarts at State, John Sherman at Treasury, Carl Schurz at Interior, and David M. Key, a Southern Democrat, as Postmaster General, signaling an attempt to ease sectional antagonism. He issued orders discouraging political assessments and pressured for merit-based appointments, bringing him into a famous confrontation with Roscoe Conkling's New York machine. Hayes removed Conkling's ally, Collector Chester A. Arthur, from the powerful New York Custom House and replaced him with men committed to cleaner administration. Although full statutory reform would come later, his fight helped set the stage for the Pendleton Act.

Economy, Labor, and Law
Hayes backed a conservative financial course, supporting the Resumption Act that restored gold payments in 1879 under John Sherman's direction. He vetoed an inflationary silver purchase measure (the Bland-Allison Act), though Congress overrode him, revealing the era's deep divisions over money. When the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 erupted, he responded to requests from state governors and used federal troops to safeguard mail and property, trying to balance public order with sensitivity to the grievances of labor. The episode exposed the tensions of a rapidly industrializing country and tested the limits of federal authority.

Reconstruction, Rights, and the South
Committed to national reconciliation, Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina, effectively ending the federal military presence that had buttressed Reconstruction governments. He sought fair treatment for Black citizens and kept capable Black officeholders in federal posts; most notably, he appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, a symbolic affirmation of inclusion. Yet the retreat of federal enforcement coincided with the rise of segregationist practices and the curtailment of voting rights in the South, illustrating the limits of his approach and foreshadowing a grim turn in civil rights that would last for decades.

Western Affairs and Foreign Policy
With Carl Schurz at Interior and experienced commanders like George Crook on the frontier, the administration pursued a mixture of peace policies and assimilationist reforms toward Native nations. While aiming to reduce corruption and conflict, these policies nevertheless advanced a federal vision that undermined tribal sovereignty. In foreign affairs, Hayes sought stability and respected treaty obligations. He vetoed a congressional measure restricting Chinese immigration on the grounds that it violated existing treaties, even as anti-Chinese agitation mounted in the West, a stance that underscored his legalistic respect for international commitments.

White House Life and Public Image
Lucy Webb Hayes played a prominent role as first lady. Her support for temperance led to alcohol-free official functions, earning her the nickname Lemonade Lucy from admirers and detractors alike. The Hayes White House emphasized cultural events, moral reform, and a close-knit family atmosphere. Friends and colleagues such as Evarts, Schurz, and Sherman shaped cabinet debates, while adversaries like Conkling sharpened Hayes's resolve to separate public service from partisan spoils.

Retirement and Public Service
True to his pledge, Hayes did not seek a second term and left office in 1881. He returned to Spiegel Grove, where he remained active in civic causes, pressing for universal education and supporting philanthropic efforts aimed at expanding opportunity for the formerly enslaved. He worked with national education funds that sought to build schools and train teachers in the South, and he championed prison reform, serving in leadership roles that kept him visible as a moral voice for administrative efficiency and social improvement. He maintained friendly ties with figures such as William McKinley and lent his prestige to the growing movement for civil service reform, now carried forward in the wake of Garfield's assassination and the Pendleton Act signed by Chester A. Arthur, the very official Hayes had once dismissed from the Custom House.

Final Years and Legacy
Hayes died in 1893 at his home in Fremont, Ohio. His life traced a path from frontier Ohio to the nation's highest office and back again, marked by steadiness, probity, and a faith that legal reforms could mend national divisions. He is often remembered for the disputed election that brought him to power and for the withdrawal of federal troops that ended Reconstruction. Yet his record also includes the early, formative push for civil service reform, careful stewardship of the nation's finances, and a principled regard for treaties and the rule of law. Surrounded by allies, rivals, and reformers of the late 19th century, from Lucy Webb Hayes and Sardis Birchard to Salmon P. Chase, John Sherman, Frederick Douglass, Roscoe Conkling, and Chester A. Arthur, Rutherford B. Hayes stands as a transitional figure who helped move the United States from the turbulence of civil war and Reconstruction into the contentious modern politics of the Gilded Age.

Our collection contains 28 quotes who is written by Rutherford, under the main topics: Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Justice - Friendship - Leadership.

Other people realated to Rutherford: Robert G. Ingersoll (Lawyer), John Philip Sousa (Musician), Chief Joseph (Leader), John Hay (Writer), Carl Schurz (Revolutionary), Belva Lockwood (Lawyer), John W. Foster (Soldier), William H. Hunt (Soldier)

• 1876 Campaign Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes, 1876 (Collection)