Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th U.S. president (1877-1881), a Republican whose disputed 1876 election was settled by the Compromise of 1877, which pulled federal troops from the South and ended Reconstruction; he then pushed early civil service reform during the Gilded Age.
Rutherford B. Hayes was the Republican who won the messiest presidential election of the 19th century. In 1876 he ran against Democrat Samuel Tilden, who actually won the popular vote. Twenty disputed electoral votes left the outcome hanging until the Compromise of 1877 handed Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing the last federal troops from the South. That deal effectively ended Reconstruction and left formerly enslaved people at the mercy of Southern "Redeemer" governments.
As president (1877-1881), Hayes tried to clean up a government that reformers said had been corrupted by greed and the spoils system. He challenged patronage politics and pushed for merit-based appointments, the opening act of the civil service reform movement that would eventually produce the Pendleton Act. That's why Hayes shows up in APUSH as a bridge figure. He closes the door on Unit 5's Reconstruction story and opens the door on Unit 6's Gilded Age politics.
Hayes lives in Topic 6.13, Politics in the Gilded Age, and supports learning objective APUSH 6.13.A, which asks you to explain the similarities and differences between the Gilded Age political parties. The CED's essential knowledge (KC-6.3.II.A) says the major parties appealed to lingering Civil War divisions while reformers argued that greed had corrupted government at every level. Hayes is a perfect example of both halves of that sentence. His election was decided by leftover sectional tension from the Civil War, and his presidency was an early reform response to the corruption complaint. If you can explain how Hayes got into office and what he tried to do once there, you've basically explained how Gilded Age politics worked.
Keep studying APUSH Unit 6
Compromise of 1877 (Unit 5)
This is the deal that made Hayes president. Democrats accepted his victory in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South, which abandoned Reconstruction. You can't explain Hayes without it, and you can't explain the end of Reconstruction without him.
Reconstruction (Unit 5)
Hayes is the period boundary in human form. His inauguration in 1877 marks the end date of Reconstruction in the APUSH periodization, which is why he's a go-to figure for continuity-and-change questions spanning Periods 5 and 6.
Civil Service Reform (Unit 6)
Hayes attacked the spoils system before it was popular to do so, fighting patronage appointments in his own party. His efforts set up the Pendleton Act era of merit-based hiring that defines later Gilded Age reform.
Bloody Shirt (Unit 6)
Republicans like Hayes won elections partly by "waving the bloody shirt," reminding voters which party had fought for the Union. The 1876 election shows the CED's point (KC-6.3.II.A) that parties leaned on lingering Civil War divisions instead of new ideas.
Hayes usually appears in multiple-choice and short-answer questions as the hinge between Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. A stem might give you an excerpt or cartoon about the 1876 election and ask what it reveals about post-Civil War politics, or ask you to identify a cause or effect of the end of Reconstruction. The 2017 SAQ used a pair of James Wales political cartoons from this era, a classic image-based prompt where you have to read the artist's point of view and connect it to Gilded Age political corruption and reform. For essays, Hayes works as evidence in two directions. He's your endpoint for a Reconstruction argument and your starting point for an argument about Gilded Age party politics and civil service reform. Don't just name him; explain what the Compromise of 1877 traded away and what that meant for African Americans in the South.
Both are forgettable-sounding Gilded Age Republican presidents who won despite losing the popular vote, which is exactly why they blur together. Keep them straight by era and issue. Hayes (1877-1881) is the end-of-Reconstruction president tied to the Compromise of 1877 and early civil service reform. Harrison (1889-1893) comes a decade later and is tied to tariff and currency battles like the McKinley Tariff era. If the question mentions federal troops leaving the South, it's Hayes, not Harrison.
Hayes became president through the Compromise of 1877, in which Democrats conceded the disputed 1876 election in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.
His presidency marks the official end of Reconstruction, leaving African Americans in the South unprotected from Redeemer governments.
Hayes pushed early civil service reform, challenging the spoils system that reformers blamed for corrupting all levels of government (KC-6.3.II.A).
Samuel Tilden won the popular vote in 1876, making Hayes a standard example of how Gilded Age elections were razor-thin and shaped by sectional loyalties.
Hayes is a bridge figure between Period 5 and Period 6, so he's useful evidence in continuity-and-change essays about federal commitment to civil rights.
Hayes (1877-1881) withdrew the last federal troops from the South as part of the Compromise of 1877, ending Reconstruction, and then pushed early civil service reform against the patronage-driven spoils system.
Not the popular vote. Democrat Samuel Tilden won that. Twenty disputed electoral votes were awarded to Hayes through the Compromise of 1877, giving him the presidency by a single electoral vote.
Hayes is the person; the Compromise of 1877 is the deal that put him in office. On the exam, use the Compromise to explain causes and effects (the end of Reconstruction) and use Hayes as the president who carried it out.
Ending it was the price of the presidency. Democrats agreed to accept his disputed 1876 victory only if federal troops left the South, and by 1877 Northern political will to enforce Reconstruction had largely collapsed.
Yes, within Topic 6.13 (Politics in the Gilded Age) and as the endpoint of Reconstruction. He supports learning objective APUSH 6.13.A on comparing the Gilded Age political parties, and image-based SAQs have drawn on political cartoons from his era.