Rutherford B Hayes

4 Pages 1123 Words

Rutherford B. Hayes was considered by many to be a simple, uncontroversial, and honest man to run for the presidency. That is why many people are perplexed that such an astute person should have one of the most controversial elections and presidencies ever. Considering Hayes’ honorable principles, it came as a surprise to see how he could unknowingly make a decision about reconstruction where its effects were so blatantly derogatory to the cause he was trying to help.
The controversy began when he was merely running for office. Hayes was running against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. When the ballots were tallied in 1876, Hayes clearly lost the popular vote, and had lost the electoral vote 184 to 165 . However, twenty votes in Oregon, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were disputed due to the protest that blacks were not given the equal chance to go to the polls and vote. Congress created and electoral commission, which carefully decided that Hayes would receive all twenty votes. Facing the possibility that the country would be left without a president, both parties were considering taking the office by force. In spite of all the conflict, a deal was finally struck. Republicans made a secret deal with Democrats in congress, who agreed not to dispute the Hayes victory in exchange for a promise to withdraw federal troops from the south and end reconstruction . Hayes made good on the deal. He swiftly ended Reconstruction and pulled federal troops out of the last two occupied states, South Carolina and Louisiana . During the brief period of radical reconstruction the negro enjoyed both civil and political rights.
This political bargain contained three generally recognized parts: 1) The north would keep hands off the ‘negro problem’. 2) The rules governing race relations in the South would be written by whites. 3) These rules would concede the negro limited civil rights, but neither social nor political equality (page 787) . It is ...