| An Overview of Rutherford B. Hayes'
Administration Rutherford B. Hayes was elected
President by a margin of only one electoral vote. His
victory over Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 climaxed the most
disputed presidential election in U.S. history. Congress
had to create a special Electoral Commission to decide
the winner, and the final decision wasn't made until the
day before the President was scheduled to take the oath
of office.
During Hayes' administration, the United States
continued its remarkable growth. America became more
industrialized than ever before, and labor unions gained
thousands of new members. The population of New
York City soared above a million, General Lew Wallace
won nationwide fame for his novel Ben-Hur, and Thomas
A. Edison visted the White House to demonstrate the
phonograph.
| The Election
of 1876 |
| Place of Nominating
Convention |
Cincinnati |
| Ballot on Which
Nominated |
7th |
| Democratic Opponent |
Samuel J. Tilden |
| Greenback Opponent |
Peter Cooper |
| Electoral Vote |
185 (Hayes ) to 184 (Tilden) to
0 (Cooper) |
| Popular Vote |
4,288,311 (Tilden) to 4,034,311
(Hayes) to 75,973 (Cooper) |
| His
Vice-President and Cabinet |
| Vice-President |
William A. Wheeler |
| Secretary of State |
William M. Evarts |
| Secretary of the
Treasury |
John Sherman |
| Secretary of War |
George W. McCrary
Alexander Ramsey (1879) |
| Attorney General |
Charles Devens |
| Postmaster General |
David M. Key
Horace Maynard (1880) |
| Secretary of the Navy |
Richard W. Thompson
Alexander Ramsey (1880)
Nathan Goff, Jr. (1881) |
| Secretary of the
Interior |
Carl Schurz |
| Domestic
Events During His Administration |
| U.S.
population was 51,500,000 in 1881. |
| June 1877 |
Hayes issued an executive order
depoliticizing the civil service system. |
| 1877 |
Reconstruction ended when the
last federal occupation troops left the South. |
| 1877 |
A railroad strike caused so much
violence that Hayes called out federal troops. |
| 1878 |
Hayes vetoed a bill that would
have restricted incoming vessels to no more than
fifteen Chinese passengers. |
| 1878 |
Congress passed the
Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act over Hayes'
veto. |
| 1878 |
The Hayes' began the custom of
Easter egg rolling by children on the White House
lawn. |
| World
Events During His Administration |
| 1877-1878 |
The Russo-Turkish War gave
Russia control over important areas in the
Balkans and near the Black Sea. |
| 1877 |
The phonograph
was invented by Thomas Edison. |
| 1879-1883 |
Chile won mineral-rich land from
Bolivia
and Peru in the War of the Pacific. |
| 1879 |
Electric street lights were
first used. |
| 1880 |
The island of Tahiti became a
French colony. |
See Also
New
York City
Thomas
A. Edison
Election of 1876
Carl Schurz
Phonograph
Bolivia
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