ALS as president signed “R. B. Hayes,” two pages, 5.5 x 9, Executive Mansion letterhead, July 1, 1879. Letter, headed at the top “Private,” to George W. Curtis, the political editor of Harper’s Weekly. In full: “Your note as to the Custom House appointment has had attention. That affair will be made right. Our contest with Congress will probably for the present end today. I have tried to maintain the National authority against the heresy of ultra States rights, and that 1. the U.S Government has the authority and is in duty bound to enact and enforce laws to secure honesty in the Congressional elections. 2. That the House of Representatives can not, even if the Senate consents, absorb the whole legislative power of the Government. 3. That the military power is to be subordinate to the Civil power, at elections and everywhere. 4. That non partisan juries are desirable. 5. That test-oaths are out of place in our system.
In all this I have I believe the support of the sober second thought of thoughtful people. Part of it has been opposed by my own party friends in Congress, and especially under the leadership of Presidential aspirants in the Senate. But upon the whole the Congressional feeling towards the Administration among Republicans of all sorts was never so friendly as it is now.” In fine condition.
This remarkable letter comments on the Constitutional power struggle that pitted the power of the presidency against the power of the US Congress. At issue was the appointment of Chester A. Arthur—collector of the Port of New York and the future 21st president of the United States—as head of the New York Custom House. The Custom House collected 70 percent of the nation's revenue and, at the time, was the largest federal office. With the help of Arthur's patron, political boss and US Senator Roscoe Conkling, Arthur was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the extremely lucrative and powerful position post in 1871. Hayes wanted to do away with appointments based on patronage and targeted Arthur...hoping to reduce Conkling’s political power in the process. In July 1878, with Congress not in session, Hayes suspended Arthur and replaced him with Edwin A. Merritt. When the Senate reconvened in January 1879, Conkling attempted to block Hayes' nominee. The president countered that Arthur and his men made the position ‘a center of partisan political management.’ While most GOP senators sided with Conkling, a sufficient percentage joined the Democrats to make Hayes victorious.
Amazingly, this letter also addresses the issue of black voters. “The US Government has the authority and is in duty bound to enact and enforce laws to secure honesty in the Congressional elections,” the Republican Hayes writes here, making reference to a Democratic Party ploy to weaken federal election enforcement laws designed to protect the civil and voting rights of blacks in the South and to prevent fraud in northern cities. A complex tale of one of the nation’s greatest Constitutional battles. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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