Tyler, John

Tyler, John (1790–1862), tenth president of the United States.A Virginian, John Tyler attended the College of William and Mary studied law, and served in the House of Burgesses, the U.S. House of Representatives, and as governor of Virginia (1825–1827) before beginning a distinguished career in the U.S. Senate in 1827.

At first, the rising Jacksonians in Congress looked to Tyler as an ally. By the early 1830s, however, antipathy for President Andrew Jackson's governing style and a strict belief in states' rights led Tyler to join a handful of discontented Democrats in bolting to the fledgling Whig party. In 1836 the Democratic controlled Virginia legislature demanded that the maverick Tyler resign his Senate seat.

In 1840, when the Whigs nominated the northerner William Henry Harrison for president, they sought a southerner with less nationalistic views to balance the ticket. Tyler accepted the vice presidential nod, expecting to play a small role in the administration. Harrison's sudden death one month into his term thrust Tyler into the presidency. Derided as “His Accidency,” Tyler found himself adrift politically. His states' rights ideas clashed with the nationalist Whigs in Congress, led by the master politician Henry Clay, who sent bills to the new president expecting Tyler simply to comply with his wishes. When Tyler issued two successive vetoes, the Whig congressional caucus wrote him out of the party and all but one of his inherited cabinet members resigned.

Tyler then latched onto the Texas annexation issue as a means of resurrecting his career. Although both parties wished to avoid the Texas question and the brewing conflict over slavery, Tyler saw it as an opportunity to defend both the South and states' rights. He negotiated an annexation treaty and waited for southern Jacksonians to assist in its ratification. The Democrats heeded the call in 1844 by nominating James Knox Polk, an ardent annexationist. Bypassing the ratification process that would have required a two‐thirds majority for Tyler's treaty, Congress simply admitted Texas by resolution in February 1845, just days before Tyler left office. In 1860, Tyler served on a futile peace commission during the secession crisis. He later supported Virginia's secession and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, but died before he could take office.
See also Antebellum Era; Confederate States of America; Democratic Party; Federal Government, Executive Branch: The Presidency; Texas Republic and Annexation.

Bibliography

Oliver Perry Chitwood , John Tyler, Champion of the Old South, 1939.
Robert J. Morgan , A Whig Embattled: The Presidency under John Tyler, 1954.

Eric D. Daniels