With the retirement of President Ulysses S. Grant after two terms , the Republicans had to settle on a new candidate for the 1876 election . Hayes 's success as Governor of Ohio elevated him to the top ranks of Republican politicians under consideration for the presidency , alongside James G. Blaine of Maine , Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana , and Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York . The Ohio delegation to the 1876 Republican National Convention was united behind Hayes , and Senator John Sherman did all in his power to aid the nomination of his fellow Ohioan . In June 1876 , the Republican National Convention assembled in Hayes 's hometown of Cincinnati , with Blaine as the favorite . Hayes placed fifth on the first ballot of the convention , behind Blaine , Morton , Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin Bristow , and Conkling . After six ballots , Blaine remained in the lead , but on the seventh ballot , Blaine 's adversaries rallied around Hayes , granting him the presidential nomination . For the vice presidency , the convention selected Representative William A. Wheeler , a man about whom Hayes had recently asked , " I am ashamed to say : who is Wheeler ? " Hayes 's views were largely in accord with the party platform , which called for equal rights regardless of race or gender , a continuation of Reconstruction , the prohibition of public funding for sectarian schools , and the resumption of specie payments . Hayes 's nomination was well received by the press , with even Democratic papers describing Hayes as honest and likable . In a public letter accepting the nomination , Hayes vowed to support civil service reform and pledged to serve for only one term . The Democratic nominee was Samuel J. Tilden , the Governor of New York . Tilden was generally considered to be a formidable adversary and , like Hayes , he had a reputation for honesty . Also , like Hayes , Tilden was a hard-money man and supported civil service reform . In accordance with the custom of the time , the campaign was conducted by surrogates , with Hayes and Tilden remaining in their respective home towns . The poor economic conditions following the Panic of 1873 , combined with various Republican scandals , made the party in power unpopular , and Hayes personally believed that he might lose the election . Both candidates focused their attention on the swing states of New York and Indiana , as well as the three Southern states — Louisiana , South Carolina , and Florida — where Reconstruction governments still barely ruled amid recurring political violence . The Republicans emphasized the danger of letting Democrats run the nation so soon after the Civil War , which they claimed had been provoked by southern Democrats . To a lesser extent , they also campaigned on the danger a Democratic administration would pose to the recently won civil rights of Southern blacks . Democrats , for their part , trumpeted Tilden 's record of reform and contrasted it with the corruption of the incumbent Grant administration . The election was marred by violence in the South , as Redeemers sought to suppress the black vote
Republican National Convention
1876 Republican National Convention
Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes