President Rutherford B. Hayes Salutes Service of U.S. Commissioner of Education John Eaton

July 26, 1877

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President Rutherford B. Hayes Salutes Service of U.S. Commissioner of Education John Eaton
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page | SMC 1198

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  • Rutherford B. Hayes

    Background

    Hayes salutes the service of his old Civil War comrade-in-arms, Brigadier General John Eaton Jr., as the United States Commissioner of Education:

    I am glad you are in a good place - confident from what I knew of you in the old 23d, and information of your life since, that you will do your duty faithfully, I feel specially gratified that you are in the service.

    Eaton, an educational reformer, had just recently chaired the International Educational Conference in Philadelphia.

    Autograph Letter Signed (“R.B. Hayes”), as President, 1 page, octavo, Executive Mansion, Washington, July 26, 1877. To John Eaton, Jr.
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    Executive Mansion,
    Washington.

    26 July 1877

    My Dear Sir :

    I am glad you are in a good place - confident from what I knew of you in the old 23d, and information of your life since, that you will do your duty faithfully, I feel specially gratified that you are in the service.

    Sincerely

    R. B. HAYES


    John Eaton
    &c &c

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    Historic Context
    Rutherford B. Hayes

    Rutherford B. Hayes

    Rutherford B. Hayes was the nineteenth president of the United States. Born in Ohio, Hayes was an abolitionist and, as a lawyer, defended runaway slaves. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Hayes joined the Ohio 23rd regiment as a major. Future President William McKinley also enlisted in Hayes’s regiment as a private. Hayes quickly established himself as a war hero. He was wounded in action five times, and had four horses shot from under him. Following the Civil War, breveted Major General Hayes served in Congress representing Ohio, and later became its governor, serving three  terms. From there, Hayes went on to win one of the most disputed elections of American history: despite losing the popular vote, he was awarded the electoral votes, and won the election of 1876. Though this compromise kept a Republican in the presidency, it meant the end of Reconstruction, which  Hayes had supported. As President, Hayes was conservative in the sense that he banned alcohol in the White House, but he was ahead of his time in advocating for women to be able to present cases in front of the Supreme Court, and supporting equal rights for blacks. He was unusual in that he scrupulously supported meritocracy, and did not appoint cabinet ministers based on nepotism or favoritism. Hayes had committed to serving only one term and kept his word, leaving office in 1881. He died in 1893 at seventy-one.


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