[USA] - 19th President of the USA Rutherford Birchard Hayes

 

Rutherford Birchard Hayes	Birth: 4 October 1822
	Died: 17 January 1893
	Party: Republican
	Presidency: 1877 – 1881
	Vice President: William A. Wheeler
	Nickname: His Fraudulency

 

● Compromise of 1877  

Among the democrats, especially those from the southern states were excluded from political power due to failure of earning public support in terms of slavery and joining the Confederate States.

Republicans would often run what is called ‘bloody shirt campaigns’ that was a constant reminder of the failed ‘rebellion’ that the southern states made.

These ‘Waving bloody shirts’ campaigns along with the carpetbaggers that were industrialists from the North that were thought to take economic advantage of the southern would provoke the southern states even more.

 

 

The southern democrats demanded to withdraw federal troops from the south if they were to admit Rutherford Birchard Hayes’s presidency election.

These politicians would call Rutherford His Fraudulency’ and agitate that the whole presidential election was a fraud providing examples of the numerous scandals during Grant’s presidency(Ulysses S. Grant was a Republican)

 

 

Rutherford Hayes had no choice but to withdraw federal troops which confirmed his status as president of the United States of America but left the south vulnerable from violent gangs such as the Ku Klux Klan.

This compromise was referred as the ‘Compromise of 1877’.

 

 

● Thomas Edison & Light Bulb

On the 21st of October 1879, Thomas Edison presents the light bulb publicly at his laboratory located in Menlo Park New Jersey.

People used to use whale fat which is known as blubber to light up, and converted to gas lamps that were more affordable than blubber but still had required quite the price for maintenance.

 

 

However, the invention of the light bulb allowed a much cheaper luminesce source that would be much affordable even for the commons.

The light bulb is a vacuum-sealed glass which had a filament that would luminate when an electric current flows. Upon Edison’s invention, gas company’s stocks would plunder as a result.

But the light bulb was a revolutionary invention for not only the United States but it also for the whole world.

 

 

● Strikes by Railroad workers  - 1877 Strike

The economic Panic of 1873 severely impacted the economy of the United States of America. It had a long-lasting impact on the economy of the USA.

As wage cuts and dismissals on railroad workers were officially announced in 1877, this lead to large scale strikes that lead to violent revolts in major cities such as Baltimore, Pittsburgh and continuously spread out through the US.

 

 

 

 

The Federal government initially mobilized local militia to control the railroad strikes but these mobilized militia would together join the strikes instead.

The federal government would inevitably deploy federal troops which caused hundreds of deaths and numerous wounded’s. The federal troops forced the railroad workers back to work.

 

 

● Phineas Taylor Barnum (P.T. Barnum) & “The Greatest Show on Earth”

Probably, most famous for the elephant Jumbo, Phineas Taylor Barnum or P.T. Barnum was entertainer and also referred as one of the greatest showmen of America.

P.T Barnum hosts the famous Barnum & Baily Circus along with James A. Baily. People would call the Barnum & Baily Circus as the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’.

 

 

The most famous showcases presented by P.T Barnum would be ‘General Tom Thumb’, ‘Jenny Lind’ who was called as the Swedish Nightingale, and ‘Jumbo’ which was an elephant that P.T Barnum purchased from Great Britain.

P.T Barnum made up the money that he used to purchase Jumbo within three weeks.

 

 

● Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang   

Frank James and Jesse James were bandits that would raid the Federal supply trains on behalf of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

This guerilla warfare raiding activities were also referred as the bushwhackers. Even after the Civil War, the James brothers would rob civilian banks, trains and station wagons.

 

 

Eventually, the James brothers along with a man called Cole Younger and other members would together form the James-Younger Gang. Jesse James would become the most famous figure of the James-Younger Gang.

After numerous robberies, eventually the James-Younger Gang would weaken and eventually a new recruit named Robert Ford would betray Jesse James and shoot him in the head. Jesse James would become a heroic figure to the neo-Confederate admirers and a motif for anti-law characters.

 

 

● Mass Immigration of the Chinese & Angell Treaty of 1880

By 1877, Chinese immigrants made up of 10% of the population of California. Chinese immigrants have already participated in parts of the US history such as the railroad construction by the Central Pacific Railroad Company.

However, conflicts started to break out soon after gold mines were depleted and railroad constructions were completed. Irish gangs would constantly attack Chinese Immigrants as part of a conflict in employments.

 

 

The Chinese would often work for less than the Irish which affected the employment rate of the Irish. Irish gangs would kill innocent Chinese in such response.

Instead of managing the Irish gangs, however the United States congress would try to pass the complete ban of Chinese immigrants.

President Hayes vetoed this act and instead made William Evarts who was the Secretary of State to negotiate with the Chinese government to limit the number of Chinese immigrants.

This would lead to the Angell Treaty of 1880 which limited the number of Chinese immigrants to the United States.

 

 

● Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 and the Bland-Allison Act

Despite the aftermath of the Economic Crisis of 1873, president Rutherford Birchard Hayes successfully manages another economic issue by careful control of the specie circulation and ‘greenbacks’ which were money not issued upon the gold-standard system.

During the Civil War, the federal government issued ‘greenbacks’ which were money that could be issued without gold. This was considered soft or easy money.

 

 

However, president Hayes wanted to restore the gold standard and while preparing gold to prepare for the Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 which attempted to compensate for the greenback and take greenbacks out from the economy to slowly restore the gold standard system.

 

 

People those who already had debt would want inflations to occur because this would in other words lower the value of their debt because the overall economy was already in inflation.

The Bland-Allison Act also known as the Grand Bland Plan of 1878 demanded the Department of Treasury to purchase silver and circulate ‘silver currency’ into the economy.

Due to the economic crisis of 1873, some thought that Bland-Allison Act was an act that would restore their asset values.

President Rutherford Hayes vetoed this bill as a bimetallism system which two types of precious metals are used as a standard along with the soft money system was dishonest and would inevitably cause another economic crisis.

 

 

Although Hayes’s veto was overrun by majority votes, the president could limit the amount of silver so only a few silver were actually circulated by the Bland-Alison Act and the improvement of the world economy allowed the United States’s economy to convert to the gold standard in a stable rate in balance.

 

 

● Reformation of Civil Services against the spoils system

President Rutherford Hayes disagreed with the spoils system which allowed the president rights to nominate civil service positions.

Although this itself is a governmental system common in these days, it demonstrated the most extreme best and worst aspects of democracy at the same time.

 

 

President Hayes attempts to abolish the spoils system and reform the civil services system by his Executive Order in June 1877.

He attempted to put a competitive examination system for positions in civil services, however congress halted him from such innovative measures.

Although president Hayes failed to reform the whole system, he made some adjustments by removing federal officials for abuse of power.