rubber soul

10.JOHN TYLER (Accidents will happen)





Born: March 29, 1790, Charles City County, Virginia
Died: January 18, 1862, Richmond, Virginia

Term: April 4, 1841- March 4, 1845
Political Party: Whig/Independent

Vice President: none

First Lady: Letitia Christian Tyler (died 1842), Julia Gardner Tyler (married 1844)

Before the Presidency: John Tyler was born into an aristocratic family in Virginia. His father was involved in politics as he served as a US District Court judge in Richmond. His father was an avid states’ rights advocate. He also opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it gave voting rights to commoners.

Yes, Virginia, John Tyler Sr. was an elitist, and the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. The junior Tyler also had an air of superiority about him and began his political career quite early, following his now Governor father to Richmond in 1809. Tyler worked with Edmund Randolph, Virginia’s first Attorney General, but really wanted a political career.

So, Randolph arranged for Tyler to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He quickly went after legislators who supported the Bank of the United States. Tyler did not believe in a centralized bank, or a centralized national government for that matter.

In the War of 1812, Tyler supported the conflict and headed a small militia company, but they wouldn’t see any action. It didn’t hurt him politically, however, as he would be elected to the House of Representatives in 1816.

While in the House, Tyler fit in quite well with his elitist background, and was a fixture at Dolley Madison’s parties. Politically, he was vehemently opposed not only to the centralized Bank of America, but the idea of Western settlement as well as a shift to an industrial economy, which he felt would be at the expense of the agrarian South. He especially didn’t like Andrew Jackson who, by now, had his star on the rise.

The final straw for Tyler was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. With dozens of slaves of his own, Tyler felt that slavery should be allowed in any state that wanted it. He was frustrated with the limits the Government was putting on future states and he left the House in 1821. He returned to law and the Virginia State Legislature. While there, he fought against the popular vote as he thought only the state legislatures should be allowed to choose the electors.

The State legislature elected Tyler as Virginia Governor in 1825 but he had no real power as the state was controlled mainly by cotton and tobacco interests, so he convinced the legislature to elect him to the US Senate.

And it was here where Tyler would flourish. He was one of the leaders of the loyal opposition to Jackson’s policies, even to the point of supporting John Quincy Adams for President. He would reluctantly switch to Jackson in 1828 as Tyler couldn’t deal with Adams’ political philosophy. He nonetheless still despised Jackson and he joined the new Whig party that Clay and Webster would form. Tyler hated the spoils system seeing it (rightfully) as rather corrupt.

The second half of Jackson’s administration was an interesting period for Tyler. He didn’t like South Carolina’s take on the tariff issue but he was horrified as what he saw as saber rattling by President Jackson as he more or less threatened war on South Carolina. Tyler would be the lone nay vote against a compromise known as the Force Act that did lower the tariff on South Carolina but didn’t address the issue of South Carolina’s rights as a state.

The Bank of America was yet another schizophrenic issue of sorts. Tyler certainly would have supported the dissolution of the bank but he despised the method by which President Jackson was doing it. He voted for Jackson’s censure but would later leave the Senate after the Virginia Legislature (now a Jacksonian body) ordered him to vote to expunge said censure.

So, now all that was left was the quest for Presidential politics. Tyler didn’t necessarily have any Presidential desires but he was popular enough with the Whigs that he was named on two of the three Presidential tickets as Vice President.

Then came 1840.

Summary of offices held:

1811-1816 Virginia House of Delegates

1813: Military Captain, War of 1812.

1816-1821: House of Representatives

1825-1827: Governor of Virginia

1827-1836: US Senate

1836: Vice Presidential Candidate, Whig Party

1841: Vice President of the United States







What was going on: The Oregon trail, second Seminole War

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: The one thing Tyler really accomplished was the assurance that the Vice President would automatically be the President in the event of a Presidential vacancy (i.e., death). It ensured that there would always be stability in the Executive branch, at least initially.

Why he was a bad President: Well, he was pro slavery. He was an elitist to the end, and he didn’t necessarily work well with others.

What could have saved his Presidency: A better relationship with Congress for starters, but maybe that was a bit impossible with the Machiavellian Clay running the House. Maybe a compromise with the Texas annexation on the slavery issue may have helped also but he and his second Secretary of State, John (the humanitarian) Calhoun, were way too pro slavery to even consider a more reasonable path.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If the economy hadn’t started to improve, which it did at least a bit during Tyler’s term.

How he became Vice President: The 1840 Campaign proved to be an interesting one for John Tyler. On the Whig side, he supported Henry Clay’s candidacy for President. Clay wasn’t to be the nominee however as Northern Whigs opposed Clay’s pro slavery stance; thus, the nomination would go to the popular William Henry Harrison. Tyler, if anything, was even more pro-slavery than Clay but he nonetheless proved to be the popular choice as Harrison’s running mate. In many ways, Tyler was the exact opposite of Harrison. Harrison was an extrovert, Tyler wasn’t. Harrison appealed to the North, Tyler to the South, anyway, you get the picture.

And, combined with the unpopularity of President Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler would win in a landslide.

First term: When President Harrison died in April 1841, Tyler was home in Virginia. He was told of the news by Daniel Webster’s son, and he rushed back to Washington. The city was in disarray. No one seemed to know what to do in case of a Presidential vacancy.

So, Tyler settled the matter in the only way he could, he took the oath of office and declared himself President.

But this wasn’t a power grab by any means. Whatever Tyler’s flaws, and he had many, he was at least wise enough to know that someone had to be in charge and since he was the Vice President, it seemed logical it should be him. Of course, not everyone agreed, and his term was not to be a pleasant one.

Indeed, he would lose his entire cabinet with the exception of Secretary of State Daniel Webster when he refused to sign a bill creating a new Bank of the United States.

It wasn’t all bad. During his term, the Webster- Ashburton treaty was enacted which settled some border disputes between British Canada and the US. He also pushed for the annexation of Texas though the treaty itself would fail, but, with the election of expansionist crazy James Polk, the annexation would be a foregone conclusion and President Tyler signed the annexation bill in one of his last acts.

But overall, things would not be pleasant for President Tyler. The Whigs, frustrated that he was opposing many of their policies, expelled him from the party. As the Democrats didn’t want him either (nor did he want them), he spent most of his tenure as an independent, the only President to have such a designation

Still, considering he had just about no support in the Congress, he still managed to accomplish more than Presidents like John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren.


Election of 1844: Amazingly, Tyler was up to the idea of a second term, and he had enough support to place him as a third party candidate, but it was a quixotic campaign, and he wouldn’t be much of a factor in the election. With the urging of former President Jackson, Tyler formally withdrew in August and endorsed James Polk.

Post Presidency: After leaving office, he mostly lived a quiet life with his second wife, Leticia.

That all changed around 1860, however as the South threatened secession. Tyler supported secession and would even be elected to the first Confederate legislature. Sadly, however, he died before he could serve and would be labeled as a traitor upon his death in 1862.

Odd notes: Tyler still has a living grandson as of 2021.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...out-john-tyler

Tyler was considered a traitor when he died in 1862.



Final Summary: This is a tough one. Personally, I pretty much dislike the man. He obviously thought he was better than most people given his upbringing. He not only looked down on nonwhites, particularly blacks, but he also looked down on basically average people. And, like many Southerners circa 1860, he all but betrayed the country.

But at least as President, he tried to do what he felt was the right thing. He refused to follow the party line and he paid the price for it. If nothing else, he was a man of principle. And he did save us from possibly Alexander Haig had things not gone so well in 1981 though he couldn’t have possibly known that at the time.

Still with those Confederate tendencies…

Overall rating: C-


https://millercenter.org/president/tyler

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