ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS de HAYES, Rutherford B - 1880

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880. First Edition. Wraps. Inscription a little light, but very clear. There is a vertical crease down the center of the pamphlet. Very Good. Printed green-gray wraps; 34 pages. SIGNED on the top margin of the front cover "With my Compliments/R. B. Hayes" by the President. Hayes covers much ground in this address beginning with the statement: "Continued opposition to the full and free enjoyment of the rights of citizenship, conferred upon the colored people by the recent amendments to the Constitution, still prevails in several of the late slaveholding States.... It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear." Hayes also proposes reforming the civil service to eliminate corruption and expresses his wish to eradicate the evils of Mormon polygamy in Utah. He discusses foreign relations at some length and concludes with recommendations specific to Washington including its water supply, railroad depots, and the completion of the Washington Monument. Hayes is quite uncommon in signed books and pamphlets and when found are usually examples from his library rather than his own work.