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Presidents 2,477 words
The outcome of the election of 1876 was not known
until the week before the inauguration itself. Democrat Samuel Tilden
had won the greater number of popular votes and lacked only one
electoral vote to claim a majority in the electoral college. Twenty
disputed electoral votes, however, kept hopes alive for Republican
Governor Hayes of Ohio. A fifteen-membe rElectoral Commission was
appointed by the Congress to deliberate the outcome of the election.
By a majority vote of 8 to 7 the Commission gave all of the disputed
votes to the Republican candidate, and Mr. Hayes was elected
President on March 2. Since March 4 was a Sunday, he took the oath of
office in the Red Room at the White House on March 3, and again on
Monday on the East Portico of the Capitol. Chief Justice Morrison
Waite administered both oaths.
Fellow-Citizens: We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun
by Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a
time-honored custom, which marks the commencement of a new
term of the Presidential office. Called to the duties of
this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage, to
announce some of the leading principles, on the subjects
that now chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is
my desire to be guided in the discharge of those duties. I
shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or
measures of administration, but rather to speak of the
motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain
important ends to be attained in accordance with our
institutions and essential to the welfare of our
country. At the outset of the discussions which preceded the
recent Presidential election it seemed to me fitting that I
should fully make known my sentiments in regard to several
of the important questions which then appeared to demand the
consideration of the country. Following the example, and in
part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I
wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed
away, to repeat what was said before the election, trusting
that my countrymen will candidly weigh and understand it,
and that they will feel assured that the sentiments declared
in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be the
standard of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I
now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them
out in the practical administration of the Government so far
as depends, under the Constitution and laws on the Chief
Executive of the nation. The permanent pacification of the country upon such
principles and by such measures as will secure the complete
protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all
their constitutional rights is now the one subject in our
public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens
regard as of supreme importance. Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous
revolution which has passed over the Southern States still
remain. The immeasurable benefits which will surely follow,
sooner or later, the hearty and generous acceptance of the
legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been
realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at
the threshold of this subject. The people of those States
are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of
wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not
fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as
to the cause of this condition of things, the fact is clear
that in the progress of events the time has come when such
government is the imperative necessity required by all the
varied interests, public and private, of those States. But
it must not be forgotten that only a local government which
recognizes and maintains inviolate the rights of all is a
true self-government. With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar
relations to each other have brought upon us the deplorable
complications and perplexities which exist in those States,
it must be a government which guards the interests of both
races carefully and equally. It must be a government which
submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the
laws--the laws of the nation and the laws of the States
themselves--accepting and obeying faithfully the whole
Constitution as it is. Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the
superstructure of beneficent local governments can be built
up, and not otherwise. In furtherance of such obedience to
the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and in behalf
of all that its attainment implies, all so-called party
interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines
may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The
question we have to consider for the immediate welfare of
those States of the Union is the question of government or
no government; of social order and all the peaceful
industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a return
to barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the
nation is deeply interested, and with respect to which we
ought not to be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or
Democrats, but fellow-citizens and fellowmen, to whom the
interests of a common country and a common humanity are
dear. The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a
large portion of our country and the advance of 4,000,000
people from a condition of servitude to that of citizenship,
upon an equal footing with their former masters, could not
occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment, to
be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their former
masters, and by the General Government, the author of the
act of emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and
providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is
not generally conceded throughout the country. That a moral
obligation rests upon the National Government to employ its
constitutional power and influence to establish the rights
of the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the
enjoyment of those rights when they are infringed or
assailed, is also generally admitted. The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be
removed or remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of
both races, actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and
regard; and while in duty bound and fully determined to
protect the rights of all by every constitutional means at
the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to
use every legitimate influence in favor of honest and
efficient local 'self'-government as the true resource of
those States for the promotion of the contentment and
prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I shall make to
accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all
who cherish an interest in the welfare of the country,
trusting that party ties and the prejudice of race will be
freely surrendered in behalf of the great purpose to be
accomplished. In the important work of restoring the South
it is not the political situation alone that merits
attention. The material development of that section of the
country has been arrested by the social and political
revolution through which it has passed, and now needs and
deserves the considerate care of the National Government
within the just limits prescribed by the Constitution and
wise public economy. But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as
for every other part of the country, lies the improvement of
the intellectual and moral condition of the people.
Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To
this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for
the support of free schools by the State governments, and,
if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national
authority. Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that
it is my earnest desire to regard and promote their truest
interest--the interests of the white and of the colored
people both and equally--and to put forth my best efforts in
behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our
political affairs the color line and the distinction between
North and South, to the end that we may have not merely a
united North or a united South, but a united country. I ask the attention of the public to the paramount
necessity of reform in our civil service--a reform not
merely as to certain abuses and practices of so-called
official patronage which have come to have the sanction of
usage in the several Departments of our Government, but a
change in the system of appointment itself; a reform that
shall be thorough, radical, and complete; a return to the
principles and practices of the founders of the Government.
They neither expected nor desired from public officers any
partisan service. They meant that public officers should owe
their whole service to the Government and to the people.
They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure
as long as his personal character remained untarnished and
the performance of his duties satisfactory. They held that
appointments to office were not to be made nor expected
merely as rewards for partisan services, nor merely on the
nomination of members of Congress, as being entitled in any
respect to the control of such appointments. The fact that both the great political parties of the
country, in declaring their principles prior to the
election, gave a prominent place to the subject of reform of
our civil service, recognizing and strongly urging its
necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific
import with those I have here employed, must be accepted as
a conclusive argument in behalf of these measures. It must
be regarded as the expression of the united voice and will
of the whole country upon this subject, and both political
parties are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved
support. The President of the United States of necessity owes his
election to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a
political party, the members of which cherish with ardor and
regard as of essential importance the principles of their
party organization; but he should strive to be always
mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves
the country best. In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other
important respects a change of great importance, I recommend
an amendment to the Constitution prescribing a term of six
years for the Presidential office and forbidding a
reelection. With respect to the financial condition of the country, I
shall not attempt an extended history of the embarrassment
and prostration which we have suffered during the past three
years. The depression in all our varied commercial and
manufacturing interests throughout the country, which began
in September, 1873, still continues. It is very gratifying,
however, to be able to say that there are indications all
around us of a coming change to prosperous times. Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it
is, with this topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the
statement made in my letter of acceptance, that in my
judgment the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from an
irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuation of values,
is one of the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous
times. The only safe paper currency is one which rests upon
a coin basis and is at all times and promptly convertible
into coin. I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor
of Congressional legislation in behalf of an early
resumption of specie payments, and I am satisfied not only
that this is wise, but that the interests, as well as the
public sentiment, of the country imperatively demand it. Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own
country to consider our relations with other lands, we are
reminded by the international complications abroad,
threatening the peace of Europe, that our traditional rule
of noninterference in the affairs of foreign nations has
proved of great value in past times and ought to be strictly
observed. The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor,
President Grant, of submitting to arbitration grave
questions in dispute between ourselves and foreign powers
points to a new, and incomparably the best, instrumentality
for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe,
become a beneficent example of the course to be pursued in
similar emergencies by other nations. If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time
during the period of my Administration arise between the
United States and any foreign government, it will certainly
be my disposition and my hope to aid in their settlement in
the same peaceful and honorable way, thus securing to our
country the great blessings of peace and mutual good offices
with all the nations of the world. Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political
contest marked by the excitement which usually attends the
contests between great political parties whose members
espouse and advocate with earnest faith their respective
creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no respect
extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent
uncertainty of the result. For the first time in the history of the country it has
been deemed best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of
the case, that the objections and questions in dispute with
reference to the counting of the electoral votes should be
referred to the decision of a tribunal appointed for this
purpose. That tribunal--established by law for this sole purpose;
its members, all of them, men of long-established reputation
for integrity and intelligence, and, with the exception of
those who are also members of the supreme judiciary, chosen
equally from both political parties; its deliberations
enlightened by the research and the arguments of able
counsel--was entitled to the fullest confidence of the
American people. Its decisions have been patiently waited
for, and accepted as legally conclusive by the general
judgment of the public. For the present, opinion will widely
vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions announced
by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every
instance where matters of dispute are made the subject of
arbitration under the forms of law. Human judgment is never
unerring, and is rarely regarded as otherwise than wrong by
the unsuccessful party in the contest. The fact that two great political parties have in this
way settled a dispute in regard to which good men differ as
to the facts and the law no less than as to the proper
course to be pursued in solving the question in controversy
is an occasion for general rejoicing. Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public
sentiment--that conflicting claims to the Presidency must be
amicably and peaceably adjusted, and that when so adjusted
the general acquiescence of the nation ought surely to
follow. It has been reserved for a government of the people,
where the right of suffrage is universal, to give to the
world the first example in history of a great nation, in the
midst of the struggle of opposing parties for power, hushing
its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to
adjustment according to the forms of law. Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the
destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon
you, Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens,
here and everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort
to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material
prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union--a union
depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the
loving devotion of a free people; "and that all things may
be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest
foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice,
religion and piety, may be established among us for all
generations."
March 5, 1877