Hayes never transferred from Kenyon, as he initially planned. But staying held its advantages—especially because of the friends he made. He made friends who joined him in war– Stanley Matthews. He made friends who consistently tested his opinions and political stances – Guy Bryan. He even made friends who complimented his tendency to dress like a slob – “the bell-ringer.” (Follow this link. You won't regret it.)
Once his time was over, however, he provided the valedictory speech and moved on. “I have parted from the friends I loved best [looking at you “the bell-ringer”], and am now struggling to enter the portals of the profession in which is locked up the passport which is to conduct me to all that I am destined to receive in life," Hayes concluded.
His next stop was Thomas Sparrow’s office, a lawyer in Columbus, to learn the craft of law first hand. But this portal must not have led to a very interesting passport, since he mostly spent his time reading, including, as Hayes put it, “a good deal of what may be denominated trash.” Hayes’s diary and surviving correspondence is minimal in this period, but he noted, “After having studied law for ten months under Sparrow in Columbus, it was deemed best that I should enter the Law School of Harvard University.” Less than a week later, he stated, “I have now finished my first week in the Law School. I have studied hard and am confident that my real gain is as great as I should have had in two weeks in an office.”
He was not in a hurry to get there, however, spending time in Buffalo and at Niagara Falls before settling at Cambridge. Once there, he saw John Quincy Adams.
An uninitiated student of presidential history may still be aware of John Quincy Adams. At least well enough to feel like that name ha
s something to do with the presidency, especially since it appears twice in the rolls in some variant. But, Adams is not the founding father president of HBO miniseries fame (although he was depicted in that show); he is the son of the second president, and the sixth president in his own right. After a contentious election led to a one-term presidency (looking at you Hayes), he “retired” to the House of Representatives serving his Massachusetts constituents.
In this role, JQA became an obnoxious defender of abolitionism. He annoyed his fellow representatives to the point that a vote was arranged to censure him; it was tabled on February 7, 1842. But, this was even after the famous gag rule; JQA refused to be gagged. He even potentially manipulated the house rules in order to hold the floor and lecture against slavery for multiple days in 1842. So solid were his anti-slavery credentials that he was asked to defend the Amistad captives (albeit after a few others declined the job).
In the midst of this high profile moment of his congressional career, Rutherford B. Hayes took note of seeing him at Harvard’s commencement ceremonies. “John Quincy Adams looks exactly as his pictures represent him,” Hayes wrote, “He appeared to enjoy himself well. No man applauded more heartily when anything good was said.” Awestruck by the former president, and enamored by Adams’s continued celebrity as a prominent congressional representative, Hayes kept his eyes on the man who demanded others’ attention. But…. Hayes was not impressed. Image: John Quincy Adams in the 1840s.
Nearly two months after first seeing Adams, Hayes attended one of his speeches at a Whig gathering in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. "My opinion of the venerable but deluded old man was not ... changed," Hayes remarked.
“My opinion of the venerable but deluded old man was not … changed"
Further into this journal entry, it becomes evident that Hayes differed with Adams specifically on the abolition question. “His speech contained little politics but much abolitionism. Some of it was very good, much of it unreasonable and very unfair,” Hayes concluded. He was impressed, however, with Adams’s intellectual capacity: “He is quick, sharp, fearless, and full of the wit and learning of all ages…when aroused by the repeated attacks, the sneers and taunts of his bitter foes, he is truly a most formidable man.”
Although he shared political parties with John Quincy Adams (and with his uncle Austin), that did not mean he was sympathetic to the abolitionist cause. Instead, Whigs like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster most evoked Hayes’s admiration. They were “compromisers” on the topic of slavery. In fact, Clay was the major author of the Compromise of 1850 that brought forth the Fugitive Slave Act. And, although Hayes actively worked against that Act, historical memory nonetheless branded him, quite negatively, with the “compromiser” title as well (we are slowly working our way to that story).
For John Quincy Adams, he lived to be 80, suffering a fatal cerebral hemorrhage on the floor of the House. He died two days later on February 23, 1848—never witnessing an end to slavery.