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.
John
Tyler