John Tyler

President of the United States (1841–1845)

• Born: March 29, 1790
• Birthplace: Greenway Plantation, Charles City County, Virginia
• Died: January 18, 1862
• Place of death: Richmond, Virginia

Upon the sudden death of President William Henry Harrison, Tyler became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency when the office was vacated. Many politicians wanted to regard his administration as a caretaker government until the next election, but he established the precedent that in such circumstances the new president holds the office in both fact and name.

Early Life

John Tyler was the son of a distinguished Virginian who served as governor, as speaker of the state House of Delegates, and as a judge. As a consequence, Tyler was reared in an atmosphere of aristocratic privilege and refinement and imbued with a sense of responsibility and commitment to public service. He attended the College of William and Mary and excelled academically, while his interest in political theory and practice grew. He shared the strict constructionist Jeffersonian Republican views of his father, under whom he began to read law at the age of seventeen. Tyler was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1809, and at the age of twenty-one, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. After brief military service in the War of 1812, Tyler returned to civilian life as a public servant. His striking physical appearance was a considerable political asset. He was six feet tall, slender, with a high forehead, aquiline nose, fair complexion, brilliant eyes, and a ready smile.

Life’s Work

Tyler first achieved national office with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1816. As a congressman, Tyler was dedicated to the principles of his family and section. He was a strict constructionist in his view of the Constitution and favored limiting the powers of the federal government. These views led Tyler to oppose nationally financed internal improvements projects because they might extend the power of the federal government. He opposed creation of the first Bank of the United States for the same reason, as well as on constitutional grounds. Although Tyler was consistent in his opposition to the slave trade, he nevertheless voted against the Missouri Compromise in 1820, believing that the “peculiar institution” would perish for lack of suitable geographical areas for its expansion. Tyler was defeated in a U.S. Senate race in 1820 and retired briefly from politics to serve as chancellor of the College of William and Mary. He was elected governor of Virginia in 1825, won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1827, and began to move toward national prominence.

Tyler supported William H. Crawford for the presidency in 1824 and was elected to the Senate as an anti-Jacksonian. As the Republican Party split into factions and began the process of dividing into National Republicans and Democratic Republicans, Tyler was offended by the rising tide of mass politics that came to be known as “Jacksonian Democracy.” Although the aristocratic Virginian was cordial and effective when dealing with members of his own class, the common folk and their heroes made him uncomfortable. Tyler was especially critical of what he termed the barking of newspapers and the brawling of demagogues. Nevertheless, in 1828, the Virginia senator supported Andrew Jackson’s successful presidential bid as the candidate of the Democratic Republicans. Although Tyler agreed with Jackson’s views on some matters, he was repulsed by what he perceived as the new president’s authoritarianism, and soon his principles caused Tyler to split from the Tennessean and the Democratic Party.

Even when Tyler agreed with the president’s positions on key issues, he often disapproved of his methods. Prime examples were nullification and the bank. Nullification became an issue during Jackson’s presidency because of two developments affecting the South. The first was the tariff: In 1828, Congress passed a high protective tariff that southern planters, dependent on an export economy, strongly opposed. Tyler was among the southern senators who spoke and voted against this “Tariff of Abominations.” The second development was the unification of the Northeast and Northwest into a national political force, relegating the South to minority status among the sections. Southern extremists were beginning to talk about separation from the Union in order to rescue the South from the tyranny of the majority. Vice President John C. Calhoun understood and empathized with the growing fear and frustration of the South yet wanted desperately to preserve the Union. Calhoun developed the theory of nullification as a means of protecting the interests of the minority section within the Union.

Nullification and the tariff were linked when South Carolina threatened to declare the tariff null and void within its borders if it was not repealed by Congress. Despite an effort by Congress to avoid confrontation by passing a new compromise tariff, Calhoun decided the time had come to test his doctrine, and South Carolina began the process of nullification. President Jackson issued a strong proclamation rejecting South Carolina’s constitutional position and threatened personally to lead a military force into the state to enforce the tariff and the will of the federal government.

Congress then passed the Force Act authorizing the president to use force to ensure that federal laws were obeyed. Tyler found himself in a troubling and ambiguous situation. On one hand, he shared South Carolina’s opposition to high tariffs, but on the other, he did not accept the doctrine of nullification. He also considered, however, Jackson’s nullification proclamation to be a violation of the Constitution, and he was the only senator to vote against the Force Act. Furthermore, Tyler objected to the forcefulness of Jackson’s reaction to South Carolina’s challenge.

The bank question created similar contradictions and ambivalence. Tyler opposed the attempt to recharter the Bank of the United States on economic and constitutional grounds. When President Jackson attempted to destroy the bank, however, by removing the government’s deposits from its coffers, Tyler was among the senators supporting resolutions condemning Jackson’s actions. When the Virginia legislature ordered him to recant and vote for a motion to expunge the resolutions, Tyler resigned from the Senate and left the Democratic Party.

The Virginian now found himself drifting into uncharted political territory. He was among those southerners who were moving toward the new Whig Party, which was emerging in opposition to the executive tyranny of “King Andrew.” However, Tyler was somewhat out of step with his new political companions. His political and constitutional views were not consistent with those of most other Whigs. Tyler had left Jackson and the Democrats largely as a result of methodology rather than constitutional differences. He had remained true to his original views and philosophy, while the Whig Party seemed a loose coalition of diverse groups with room for considerable philosophical latitude. Nevertheless, although he was defeated in a Senate election in 1839, Tyler was nominated for the vice presidency on the William Henry Harrison ticket the following year as the Whigs attempted to win the votes of other former southern Democrats.

By now the Virginia politician who featured in one of the most famous campaign slogans in American political history had matured into a dignified and appealing figure. He continued to be somewhat distant in dealing with the masses and was sometimes accused of vanity, but most considered him friendly and considerate. He was unfailingly good-humored and patient and scrupulously honest. Even Tyler’s political enemies found him difficult to dislike, and they respected his ability as a campaigner, for he had become a polished and effective orator. Tyler was nominated not because of his character or abilities, however, but because he appealed to disaffected southern Democrats. Ironically, within a few short months the entire political structure was in turmoil, and Tyler was thrust onto center stage.

The Harrison and Tyler ticket won the election of 1840 easily, but within a month of his inauguration, Harrison was dead. Supposedly, the dying chief executive’s last words were a request that his vice president carry out the true principles of government. Ironically, the leaders of the Whig Party were soon to learn that Tyler did not share their concept of what constituted those true principles. Their chagrin and apparent amazement upon learning about the Virginian’s views were somewhat surprising, for throughout his long political career, Tyler had demonstrated a philosophical and constitutional consistency that is unusual among politicians.

The marriage of Harrison and Tyler was strictly one of convenience. The Virginian had scarcely known, and was not favorably impressed by, Old Tippecanoe. The Whigs, however, expected that the actual leadership in a Harrison administration would emanate from Congress, and Tyler was a close friend of Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay probably believed that Tyler would support the Whig programs that the Kentuckian planned to introduce in Congress, including plans for a new national bank. Tyler’s oratory in the presidential campaign was sufficiently vague to provide substance for such a view, but within a few months, Clay would be a bitter political enemy, attacking the Virginian as a traitor to the Whig Party.

The first question faced by Tyler and the nation was fundamental: What was his status upon Harrison’s death? Was he president in fact or only in name? Whether he was simply to attempt to carry out Harrison’s views and programs or operate just as though he had been elected to the office was unclear. This was the first time that a vice president had ascended to the presidency upon the death of a chief executive, and the Constitution is rather vague concerning the succession. It says simply that if the president is removed from office, dies, resigns, or is unable to discharge his duties, the office will devolve on the vice president. This phrase could imply that the vice president inherits the office itself or, equally plausible, that the vice president simply performs the duties of the office. Tyler, usually the strict constructionist, interpreted the Constitution broadly and claimed all the rights and privileges of the presidency. There was some contemporary criticism of his position, but the practice has been accepted and followed since that time.

Tyler retained the Harrison cabinet members, reinforcing the impression that he would follow in the dead president’s footsteps. Clay and the Whig leadership quickly and confidently submitted their legislative program, which called for a higher tariff and the creation of a new Bank of the United States. Congress enacted legislation for both the bank and the tariff, but the Whigs soon discovered that they had misread the situation. Tyler vetoed both measures with language that was highly reminiscent of Andrew Jackson. Some Whigs angrily charged that Tyler was a traitor, others that he was jealous of Clay. In actuality, Tyler was neither. He was simply acting in accord with the strict constructionist, agrarian views that he had absorbed from his father and had held since his youth. He stood his ground in the face of tremendous pressure, which included recriminations from Clay, blandishments from majoritarian Whigs, and a rock-throwing mob that attacked the White House.

Tyler argued that the legislation creating the new bank was unconstitutional and that the proposed institution posed the threat of an economic monopoly. He suggested a modified “exchequer” system as a compromise, but the Whig leaders forged ahead and again attempted to created a new bank, this time thinly disguised as a “fiscal corporation.” Tyler vetoed that too, and the situation deteriorated into open warfare between the Whig president and his party. Tyler also struck down Clay’s distribution program and other Whig legislation, and the Kentuckian resigned from the Senate in frustration and disgust.

Clay’s resignation was followed by those of most of Tyler’s cabinet members. The president replaced them with men of his own stripe, former Democrats who shared his views. There were public demonstrations against Tyler, he was burned in effigy, and in January, 1843, the Whigs brought impeachment charges against the man they now called “His Accidency.” He was not convicted, but the Whigs formally expelled him from the party, as it disintegrated into shambles.

Tyler was now a man without a party, but he continued to perform his duties in accordance with his principles and in apparent good humor. During his presidency, he signed the Preemption Act of 1841, which made land more accessible and stimulated settlement in the Northwest; he helped end the Seminole War; and he was involved in the resolution of the Canadian boundary dispute with Great Britain. By 1844, he hoped for election to the presidency as an independent candidate but failed to generate significant support. Tyler then withdrew from the race and endorsed the Democrat, James K. Polk of Tennessee, who ran and won on an expansionist platform. During his last days in the presidency, the Virginian signed measures annexing Texas and admitting Florida to statehood.

John Tyler retired to his James River plantation in Virginia, a man without a party. He continued to be interested in public affairs, and his graciousness, character, and obvious goodwill won the affection of his neighbors. He became an honored citizen and was an influential southern leader as sectional turmoil increased during the 1850s. Tyler remained loyal to the Union and attempted to promote compromise on sectional issues but finally voted in favor of secession as a delegate to the Virginia secession convention. He served in the provisional Congress of the Confederacy and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives but died in January, 1862, before taking his seat. He was buried in Richmond.

Significance

John Tyler was the first vice president to inherit the presidency upon the death of a chief executive, the first president to face impeachment charges, and the only one to be officially expelled from his party. He is remembered today primarily as a historical footnote, but he deserves better. He was a man of great integrity and considerable ability who remained steadfast in his views and true to his principles. Despite the turmoil of his presidency he achieved some positive accomplishments and significantly shaped the theory of vice presidential succession under the U.S. Constitution.

Bibliography

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