It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that

Hear the words of Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States, spoken with hope after the fires of civil war had torn his nation asunder: “It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear.” These words were not spoken lightly, for Hayes lived in a time when the wounds of division were fresh and the scars of battle still raw. His voice was not the voice of conquest, but of healing—a call for unity where once there had been bloodshed, and for reconciliation where once there had been only hatred.

The origin of this truth lies in the years following the American Civil War, when the country, though no longer at war, was still fractured by sectionalism. The North and South, though bound again in one union, remained divided in spirit—suspicious of each other, clinging to old resentments, fearful that the sacrifices of war might yet be undone by politics. Hayes, ascending to the presidency after one of the most contested elections in American history, understood that peace could not survive unless the people learned to think as one nation, not as hostile camps.

To understand the meaning of his words, one must look to history itself. Consider the years before the war, when sectionalism poisoned politics—when every debate, whether about tariffs, expansion, or slavery, was consumed by the rivalry of North and South. In those days, compromise became impossible, and politics became war by other means until it erupted into war itself. Hayes knew that if sectionalism remained, the cycle might begin again. His vision was that the good people of the whole country would rise above these divisions and see themselves not as Northerners or Southerners, but as Americans bound together by common destiny.

There are echoes of this truth across the ages. In ancient Greece, city-states like Athens and Sparta, though of the same people, allowed rivalry and sectionalism to weaken them. Their divisions made them vulnerable to greater powers and led to their eventual downfall. So too in Rome, factionalism between patricians and plebeians, between generals and senators, slowly corroded the unity of the Republic. Hayes, speaking in his own century, tapped into this eternal lesson: that a people divided against itself cannot endure, but a people united may rise to greatness.

Yet Hayes’s words also hold warning. For though he spoke of the desire of the people, desire alone does not erase division. Unity must be cultivated. It must be chosen, day by day, in speech and in action, in the way we treat neighbor and stranger alike. Without effort, sectionalism creeps back into the heart, sowing distrust, whispering that one group is enemy to another. The work of unity is the work of vigilance, courage, and forgiveness.

O seeker, take this lesson into your own heart: whenever you divide people into “us” and “them,” whenever you let suspicion and resentment govern your vision, you walk the path of sectionalism. But when you listen with humility, when you see in another the same humanity that dwells within yourself, you build unity. Hayes reminds us that the strength of a nation lies not in its armies or its wealth, but in its people seeing themselves as one.

And what actions must you take? Begin where you are: speak to those unlike yourself, not with hostility but with openness. Resist the voices that profit from division, that tell you your neighbor is your foe. In politics, in community, in family, labor to be a bridge rather than a wall. Remember always that the fate of nations depends upon such choices. For when sectionalism disappears, the people rise; but when it thrives, they fall into ruin.

Thus, let Hayes’s words endure as both hope and command: “It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism … should disappear.” Let us then be counted among the good people. Let us be the generation that chooses unity over division, peace over rivalry, and the common good over narrow faction. In such a choice lies the survival of democracy and the flourishing of a people.