November 17

"Let me assure my countrymen of the southern states that it is my earnest desire to regard and promote the interests of the white and colored people both and equally...to the end that we many have not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country.

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President, 1877-1881- In one of the most controversial elections of its time, neither Northern Republican candidate, Hayes, nor Southern Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden gained enough electoral votes to be elected. A congressional committee found in favor of of Hayes with much "back room" deal making, one of which was the lessening of northern intervention in the southern states... from his Inaugural Address, Monday, March 5, 1877- ...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...That it(Emancipation)was a wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the country... 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...