HAYES 



2730 



HAYES 



man who won popularity and devotion from 

 his followers. The Ohio soldiers in the army 

 almost unanimously made him their choice for 

 governor of Ohio in 1864, and in August of the 

 same year he was given the Republican nom- 

 ination as Representative from the Second Ohio 

 district. At this time Hayes was in active mili- 

 tary service, and when a friend suggested to 

 him that he ought to ask leave of absence in 

 order to campaign for the seat in Congress, he 

 made the famous reply, "An officer fit for duty 

 who at this crisis would abandon his post to 

 electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be 

 scalped." He was elected without any effort 

 on his part, took his seat in the House in De- 

 cember, 1865, and was reflected in the next year. 



He had served only his first term when the 

 Ohio Republicans nominated him for governor 

 of the state. Some idea of his personal popu- 

 larity may be gained from the fact that he was 

 elected, although the negro-suffrage amendment 

 to the state constitution, the issue on which he 

 made his campaign, was defeated by 50,000 

 votes. The Democrats carried the legislature, 

 which promptly elected as United States Sen- 

 ator Allen G. Thurman, Hayes' recent oppo- 

 nent for governor. Two years later Hayes was 

 again elected by a substantial majority over 

 George H. Pendleton. During these four years 

 in the governor's chair his record was excellent, 

 and his reputation as an advocate of civil serv- 

 ice and prison reform and of sound money was 

 more than local. 



At the close of his second term Hayes was 

 fully determined to retire to private life. He 

 refused to be a candidate for United States 

 Senator, although his election would have been 

 almost certain. After much urging he was a 

 reluctant candidate for Representative in Con- 

 gress in the summer of 1872, but was defeated. 

 In 1875, in spite of his repeated statement that 

 neither his interests nor his tastes would allow 

 him to reenter public life, he was nominated 

 for governor by the Republicans. Governor 

 William Allen was the Democratic candidate 

 for reelection, on a platform remarkable for the 

 number of national issues inserted in it. The 

 Republicans in Ohio were by no means united 

 on the questions at issue, but Hayes won in a 

 campaign which attracted the attention of the 

 nation. He was then one of the foremost advo- 

 cates of "honest money," one of the campaign 

 issues, and was at once recognized as the Ohio 

 candidate for the next Republican nomination 

 for President. In the national convention, held 

 at Cincinnati in June, 1876, the leading candi- 



dates were James G. Elaine, Oliver P. Morton, 

 Benjamin H. Bristow and Roscoe Conkling. 

 Hayes received only sixty-one votes on the first 

 ballot, but his strength gradually increased un- 

 til he was nominated on the seventh ballot. 



The Election of 1876. The Democratic can- 

 didate for President was Samuel J. Tilden, who 

 had been instrumental in breaking up the Tweed 

 Ring (see TWEED, WILLIAM M.), and had later 

 made an excellent record as reform governor of 

 New York. A third party, the Greenback 

 (which see), nominated Peter Cooper for Presi- 

 dent, and made its first appearance as a national 

 political party. Both Hayes and Tilden were 

 men of high character, and there was little to 

 choose between them. The election was very 

 close, Hayes receiving a popular vote of 4,033,- 

 950 to 4,284,885 for Tilden. On the face of the 

 returns Hayes received 185 electoral votes to 

 184 for Tilden, but both parties charged that 

 frauds had been practiced. The Democrats 

 claimed to have carried Louisiana, Florida and 

 South Carolina, but the Republican canvassing 



ELECTION OF 1876 



The cross-shaded states gave their electoral 

 votes to Hayes ; those in black voted for Tilden. 

 The white areas were nonvoting territories. 



boards and governors certified the Republican 

 electors. The disputes grew very bitter, and at 

 one time it seemed as if the control of the 

 government might be taken by force. The is- 

 sues were finally submitted to a special Elec- 

 toral Commission (which see), which decided 

 every dispute in favor of Hayes by a strictly 

 partisan vote, eight Republicans to seven 

 Democrats. On March 2, 1877, two days before 

 the inauguration, Hayes was declared duly 

 elected by an electoral vote of 185 to 184. 



Throughout the trying months from Novem- 

 ber to March, when the country was almost on 

 the verge of another internal conflict, both 

 Hayes and Tilden conducted themselves with 

 notable calm and dignity, Hayes' attitude was 



