John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States, was born March 29th, 1790 in Virginia. He enrolled in the
College of William and Mary in 1802. He
graduated in 1807. For two years after his studies in college, Tyler studied
law under his relatives and the first
attorney general. Tyler was accepted to the
bar in 1809. He practiced law for a short time before entering the
political arena.
Tyler begin his career in
politics when, from 1816-1821, he served in the
Virginia House of Delegates as a representative of
Charles City County. During his service in the House of Delegates, Tyler led the effort to
censure Virginia's two
U.S. Senators for supporting the
Bank of the United States. When Tyler moved on to become a member of the
House of Representatives from 1816-1821, Tyler opposed the
Bank of the United States, high
tariffs, and federally funded
internal improvements. He argued
against the constitutionality of
restrictions on slavery, and was against
Jackson’s
invasion of Florida.
Tyler was again elected as a
Jeffersonian Republican representative of Charles City County to the Virginia House of Delegates from 1823-1825. Then he was elected
Governor of Virginia from 1825-1827, and fought unsuccessfully for statewide improvements in
education and
transportation, which reflects his position that internal improvements are the duty of the
state and not the
nation. He
resigned in 1827 to accept his election to the
U.S. Senate. Tyler entered the Senate criticizing then president
John Quincy Adams and his
administration, again on the grounds of Adams’ support for
federal funding of
internal improvements. In 1836, Tyler chose to
resign his seat rather than comply with orders from the
Virginia legislature on how to
vote.
In 1838, Tyler was elected to the
Virginia House of Delegates, this time as a
Whig candidate from the
Williamsburg district. He was named the
Speaker of the House in January 1839. He served for one year, and then Tyler was nominated to the position of
Vice President. The
nomination was intended as a tool to gain
Southern support for the 1840
Whig candidate,
William Henry Harrison. Harrison
won the election, and Tyler became Vice President on March 4, 1841. No one could have foreseen then that Tyler would become
president.
When President
Harrison unexpectedly died- or rather,
not all that unexpectedly, as his
advanced age had been an issue his
opponents had not hesitated to point out during the
election- the nation found itself in a
constitutional dilemma. The
Constitution made no clear provisions as to the
distribution of power after the
death of the president. While it was inarguable that the
Vice President took over, the
extent of the vice president’s power was at
issue. Was he the new president, or was he but acting in that role and thus
subject heavily to the will of
Congress and the former president’s
cabinet? Tyler, in an unexpectedly
decisive mode, ignored his opponents and decided that
he was indeed president. He moved into the
White House, and into the shoes of the presidency to become the 10th President of the United States. His term lasted from 1841 to 1845.
Taking over someone else’s presidency
mid run was an
unprecedented and
shaky transistion for John Tyler. But it must be noted that he
stood by his principles throughout the entire term. Even when his actions
alienated him from his own
political party, thus giving him
almost no supporters in Congress, he stood by his
beliefs.
When Tyler first took on the presidency, he was presented with
two bills that were intended to
resurrect the National Bank. Tyler’s record through his service in Congress and the state legislatures had previously shown he was
adamantly opposed to the Bank, along with its tendency to
fund federal internal improvements. The
Whig party, on the other hand,
supported the bills. The new president was on
shaky ground as it was, for he was not in office by the
will of the people but through an
accident that had earned him the jeering nickname “
His Accidency” from opponents. But this did not prevent Tyler from
completely ignoring the will of his party and
vetoing both bills.
Tyler’s actions earned him the
uncomfortable position of being a
president without a party. This did not hinder him in the least, however. He stood behind
Daniel Webster, the one member of Harrison’s cabinet who had not
resigned when Tyler had lost his
party backing, when Webster went to negotiate
a treaty with Canada. This treaty effectively ended the bickering over the
Maine-New Brunswick border that had been a constant struggle for the past years since the
Aroostook War. He also signed the resolution annexing
Texas near the end of his term in 1845.
A true
outsider in every sense of the word, Tyler’s
administration was one of contention, and he had no hopes of
re election afterwards- indeed, he had no
party to back him in such an
election. But for a man who was not even expecting a place in the
White House, Tyler performed
admirably, and showed a greater care for the
issues than many men who have passed through that house.
Partisan politics were not his concern, and it can be said that in that sense he lived up to the
Washingtonian ideal of a president unguided by
factional policies. John Tyler died on January 18th, 1862.
Works Consulted:
The Hall of Forgotten Presidents. "John Tyler."
Walker, Jane C. "John Tyler : A President of Many Firsts." McDonald & Woodward Pub Co; 2001.
The White House. "Biography of John Tyler."
"John Tyler in Brief."