Rutherford B. Hayes
Inaugural Address
Monday, March 5, 1877

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."

