|
Home >
Government >
President >
Past Presidents > John Tyler |
|
|
John Tyler
Dubbed "His Accidency" by his detractors, John Tyler was the first Vice
President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his
predecessor.
Born in Virginia in 1790, he was raised believing that the Constitution must be
strictly construed. He never wavered from this conviction. He attended the
College of William and Mary and studied law.
Serving in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821, Tyler voted against
most nationalist legislation and opposed the Missouri Compromise. After leaving
the House he served twice as Governor of Virginia. As a Senator he reluctantly
supported Jackson for President as a choice of evils. Tyler soon joined the
states' rights Southerners in Congress who banded with Henry Clay, Daniel
Webster, and their newly formed Whig party opposing President Jackson.
The Whigs nominated Tyler for Vice President in 1840, hoping for support from
southern states'-righters who could not stomach Jacksonian Democracy. The slogan
"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" implied flagwaving nationalism plus a dash of
southern sectionalism.
Clay, intending to keep party leadership in his own hands, minimized his
nationalist views temporarily; Webster proclaimed himself "a Jeffersonian
Democrat." But after the election, both men tried to dominate "Old Tippecanoe."
Suddenly President Harrison was dead, and "Tyler too" was in the White House. At
first the Whigs were not too disturbed, although Tyler insisted upon assuming
the full powers of a duly elected President. He even delivered an Inaugural
Address, but it seemed full of good Whig doctrine. Whigs, optimistic that Tyler
would accept their program, soon were disillusioned.
Tyler was ready to compromise on the banking question, but Clay would not budge.
He would not accept Tyler's "exchequer system," and Tyler vetoed Clay's bill to
establish a National Bank with branches in several states. A similar bank bill
was passed by Congress. But again, on states' rights grounds, Tyler vetoed it.
In retaliation, the Whigs expelled Tyler from their party. All the Cabinet
resigned but Secretary of State Webster. A year later when Tyler vetoed a tariff
bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the
House of Representatives. A committee headed by Representative John Quincy Adams
reported that the President had misused the veto power, but the resolution
failed.
Despite their differences, President Tyler and the Whig Congress enacted much
positive legislation. The "Log-Cabin" bill enabled a settler to claim 160 acres
of land before it was offered publicly for sale, and later pay $1.25 an acre for
it.
In 1842 Tyler did sign a tariff bill protecting northern manufacturers. The
Webster-Ashburton treaty ended a Canadian boundary dispute; in 1845 Texas was
annexed.
The administration of this states'-righter strengthened the Presidency. But it
also increased sectional cleavage that led toward civil war. By the end of his
term, Tyler had replaced the original Whig Cabinet with southern conservatives.
In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. Later these men returned to the
Democratic Party, committed to the preservation of states' rights, planter
interests, and the institution of slavery. Whigs became more representative of
northern business and farming interests.
When the first southern states seceded in 1861, Tyler led a compromise movement;
failing, he worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member
of the Confederate House of Representatives. |
|
|
|
