Rutherford B. Hayes: The Compromise President Who Ended Reconstruction
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893) was the nineteenth President of the United States, serving a single term from 1877 to 1881. Hayes was a distinguished Civil War general, a three-time governor of Ohio, and a man of high personal integrity. However, his presidency is almost entirely defined by the bitterly contested election that brought him to office—the Compromise of 1877—which simultaneously restored political peace to the nation and brought a definitive, tragic end to the federal government’s efforts at Reconstruction.
A Career of Public Service
Hayes established a strong reputation before reaching the White House. During the Civil War, he fought bravely for the Union, was wounded multiple times, and rose to the rank of Major General. His military service lent him significant political credibility. After the war, he served in Congress and then as Governor of Ohio. As governor, he built a record of mild reform, supporting civil service improvements and opposing corruption, which made him an attractive candidate for the Republicans looking to clean up the image tarnished by the scandals of the Grant administration.
The Most Controversial Election in History
The election of 1876 pitted Hayes against the Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, the Governor of New York. The popular vote clearly favored Tilden, but the electoral vote hung in the balance due to disputed returns from three Southern states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) and one Northern elector in Oregon. Both parties claimed victory in these states, leading to an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
To resolve the impasse, Congress created a special, bipartisan Electoral Commission composed of congressmen, senators, and Supreme Court justices. The Commission ultimately voted along straight party lines (8 Republicans to 7 Democrats) to award all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. This decision alone would have made Hayes president, but Democrats controlled the House of Representatives and threatened a massive filibuster to prevent the count from being certified.
The Compromise of 1877
Behind the scenes, a deal was brokered between Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans. The informal agreement, known as the Compromise of 1877 (or the Bargain of 1877), secured the presidency for Hayes in exchange for massive concessions to the South. The critical components of this bargain were:
Withdrawal of Federal Troops: Hayes agreed to immediately withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from the two Southern states where they were still stationed (Louisiana and South Carolina).
End of Reconstruction: The withdrawal of troops effectively removed the last federal protection for Black citizens’ voting and civil rights and marked the official end of the Reconstruction era. Southern state governments, dominated by white Democrats known as "Redeemers," immediately moved to pass Jim Crow laws and disenfranchise Black voters.
Infrastructure Funding: Hayes promised federal funding for internal improvements in the South, including a transcontinental railroad route.
Hayes took the oath of office, becoming the only president whose victory was secured by a single electoral vote decided by a partisan commission, an event that forever stained his legitimacy in the eyes of many Democrats.
The Agenda of Reform
Once in office, Hayes focused on healing the divisions exposed by the election and tackling structural issues, committing himself to a single term as promised during the campaign:
Civil Service Reform: Hayes was a staunch advocate for ending the "spoils system," where federal jobs were handed out as political favors. He issued executive orders and fought the New York Republican machine—led by Senator Roscoe Conkling—to implement merit-based appointments. He famously battled against powerful figures to remove Chester A. Arthur (a future president) from the lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York due to corruption.
Monetary Policy: He inherited an economic depression and took on the powerful "Greenbackers" (who favored printing more paper money) by advocating for a return to the gold standard, a conservative policy meant to stabilize the nation's currency.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877: Early in his term, the country faced massive labor unrest as railroad workers launched one of the most violent strikes in American history. Hayes was compelled to deploy federal troops to several states to suppress the violence, an action that cemented the federal government's role as a force against organized labor during the era.
Legacy and Aftermath
Hayes left office in 1881, having successfully restored peace to a deeply divided government and having begun the long, slow process of civil service reform. However, history views his administration with profound ambivalence.
His greatest accomplishment—avoiding a second civil war over the election results—came at the cost of his greatest moral failure: abandoning the principles of Reconstruction. By removing the federal military presence, Hayes enabled the rise of decades of Jim Crow segregation, disenfranchisement, and racial terror in the South, an immense setback for civil rights that the nation would not begin to remedy for another eighty years. He retired to his home, Spiegel Grove, where he dedicated himself to education and veterans' affairs, but his presidency remains a stark reminder of how political compromise can have devastating long-term consequences for justice and equality.