Union war hero and future president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was elected to the first of his two terms as Ohio governor on this day in a hard-fought and narrow victory.  The Democratic challenger, Judge Allen G. Thurman was beaten by a slim 2,983 margin in a race where 404,603 ballots were cast and the continued debate in the state over African-American voting rights dominated.  Despite the narrow margins, the Republican Party won most of the contests in the state wide elections.  Hayes' vacated seat in the United States Congress, however, went to the Democrat, Samuel Fenton Cary, in the special election to fill it.  (By John Osborne)

The Ohio Senate took up the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and after a heated debate, passed it on a strict party vote, with twenty-one Republicans for and twelve Democrats against.  The measure passed the Ohio House the next day, on a similarly firm party-line vote, 54 to 25. Ohio then became the eighth state to ratify the measure. The vote became the focal point of Ohio politics in the hard fought election campaign of the remainder of the year and the action was, if fact, rescinded the following October.  The Ohio legislature finally re-ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on April 23, 2003.  (By John Osborne) 

Former Democrat and veteran Union Army field officer Walter Harriman was elected governor of New Hampshire on this day, defeating John G. Sinclair after a campaign that had included a popular and interesting series of eight debates during February, across the entire state.  Harriman won with just over 52% of the ballots cast, extending the ten-year hold on the governor's mansion for his party. (By John Osborne)