Description:

R.B. Hayes ALS on Stolen Election “I am Precluded From Taking Any Part in the Contest for the Nomination at Chicago By My Views of Proprietary” Superb Content on Most Disputed Election in History

1p, 5.5” x 8.5", ALS signed as “R.B. Hayes”, “Fremont O” and dated 25 May 1884. Former President Hayes answers a request from A.H. Dooley to appear at the 1884 Chicago Republican National Convention. After the country's most disputed election in history, Hayes did not seek re-election. In 1880 Republicans would nominate another Ohioan, James Garfield, who would go on to win the election and the popular vote by less than 2000 votes. Still, two election cycles later, Hayes is not comfortable participating in his party's contest for the nomination due to his views of “Proprietary”.

The letter reads:

“Fremont O(hio)
25 May 1884
Private
Dear Sir:
I am precluded from taking any part in the contest for the nomination at Chicago by my views of proprietary and I therefore beg you to excuse me from complying with your request. The whole affair is in the newspapers and public documents of the period, biz. The last of January and the first week of February 1879.
Sincerely,

R.B. Hayes”

The 1876 presidential election was the most disputed and contested in United States history until the 2000 presidential election. The Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden had emerged with the popular vote, but 20 decisive elector votes from four states were in dispute, three of which were in Democratically held southern states. Reconstruction had seen a rise in white supremacist groups determined to disenfranchise Black voters in the South, and violence and corruption were rife. One pertinent example was South Carolina, where a reported 101% of all eligible voters had turned up to cast their ballots. Thus, the debate about distributing the contested votes became heated, and at times even violent. On November 22nd, a Republican controlled electoral commission rejected enough South Carolinian votes to declare in favor of Hayes.

Similar Hayes ALS’ on the subject of the stolen election and also marked “Private”, sold last November in Heritage for $6,000 & $6,250.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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