John Tyler

John Tyler (March 29, 1790 - January 18, 1862), of Virginia, was the tenth (1841) Vice President of the United States, and the tenth (1841-1845) President of the United States. He was the second President born after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the first to assume the office of President following the death of his predecessor.

Presidency

His presidency was rarely taken seriously in his time; he was usually referred to as the "Acting President" or "His Accidency" by opponents. Further, Tyler quickly found himself at odds with his former political supporters. Harrison had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay. Tyler shocked Congressional Whigs by vetoing virtually the entire Whig agenda, twice vetoing Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837 and leaving the government deadlocked. Tyler was officially expelled from the Whig Party in 1841, a few months after taking office, and the entire cabinet he had inherited from Harrison resigned in September. The one exception was Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, who remained to finalize the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842, demonstrating his independence from Clay.

Related Topics:
Whig Party - Henry Clay - Congressional - Panic of 1837 - 1841 - Daniel Webster - Webster-Ashburton Treaty - 1842

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For two years Tyler struggled with the Whigs, but when he took John C. Calhoun as Secretary of State, to 'reform' the Democrats, the gravitational swing of the Whigs to identity with 'the North' and the Democrats as the party of 'the South,' led the way to the sectional party politics of the next decade.

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In May 1842, when the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island came to a head, Tyler declined to use Federal troops to suppress the rioting adherents of a new state constitution, which extended Rhode Island's restricted franchise. Tyler was of the opinion that the 'lawless assemblages' were dispersing, and expressed his confidence in a 'temper of conciliation as well as of energy and decision:'

Related Topics:
Dorr Rebellion - Rhode Island

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"I freely confess that I should experience great reluctance in employing the military power of Government against any portion of the people; but however painful the duty I have to assure your Excellency, that if resistance is made to the execution of the laws of Rhode-Island, by such force as the civil peace shall be unable to overcome, it will be the duty of this Government to enforce the Constitutional guarantee-- a guarantee given and adopted mutually by all the original States, of which Rhode-Island was one."

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Tyler's later career may be seen in the light of his actions at this turn of events. His letter declined to offer an opinion on the internal affairs of Rhode Island: "They are questions of municipal regulation, the adjustment of which belongs exclusively to the people of Rhode Island." It was the first occasion in U.S. history where the question had arisen, according to Tyler, who was overlooking Shays' Rebellion. He ended his published letter:

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"The people of the State of Rhode Island have been too long distinguished for their love of order and of regular government, to rush into revolution, in order to obtain a redress of grievances, real or supposed, which a government under which their fathers lived in peace, would not in due season redress. No portion of her people will be willing to drench her fair fields with the blood of their own brethren, in order to obtain a redress of grievances which their constituted authorities cannot, for any length of time, resist, if properly appealed to by the popular voice. None of them will be willing to set an example, in the bosom of this Union, of such frightful disorder, such needless convulsions of society, such danger to life, liberty and property, and likely to bring so much discredit on the character of popular governments. My reliance on the virtue, intelligence and patriotism of her citizens, is great and abiding, and I will not doubt but that a spirit of conciliation will prevail over rash counsels, that all actual grievances will be promptly redressed by the existing Government, and that another bright example will be added to the many already prevailing among the North American Republics, of change without revolution and a redress of grievances without force or violence."

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The last year of Tyler's presidency was marred by a freak accident that killed two of his Cabinet members. During a ceremonial cruise down the Potomac River on February 28, 1844, a main gun of the USS Princeton blew up during a demonstration firing, instantly killing Thomas Gilmer, the Secretary of the Navy, and Abel P. Upshur, the Secretary of State. Tyler met his second wife, Julia Gardiner, during the ceremony. Her father was also killed during the explosion. Tyler and Gardiner were married not long afterwards in New York City, on June 26 1844.

Related Topics:
Potomac River - February 28 - 1844 - USS Princeton - Thomas Gilmer - Secretary of the Navy - Abel P. Upshur - Secretary of State - June 26

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Tyler was an advocate to the annexation of Texas.

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Cabinet

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Supreme Court appointments

Tyler appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

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• Samuel Nelson - 1845

States Admitted to the Union

• Florida – March 3, 1845