John Tyler

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.

Tyler was born to an aristocratic family in Richmond, Virginia , in 1790. His father served as governor, speaker of the state House of Delegates, and as a judge. Tyler attended the College of William and Mary and excelled academically. He began to read law under his father at the age of seventeen, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1809. At the age of twenty-one, he was elected to the Virginia legislature.

Tyler was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1816. He was elected governor of Virginia in 1825 and won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1827. As a Jeffersonian Republican like his father, Tyler was firm in his belief that the Constitution must be interpreted strictly and he favored limitation of the powers of the federal government. These views led Tyler to oppose the creation of the first Bank of the United States (a commercial bank operated under a federal regulation) on the grounds that the Constitution did not provide Congress with the power to regulate a national bank. Tyler opposed the slave trade, but he disagreed with legislation limiting slavery , thinking it would eventually die out naturally.

At odds with the party

During the administration of President Andrew Jackson (1767–1845; served 1829–37), Tyler's loyalty to the Republican Party was severely tested. He supported Jackson's bid as the candidate of the Democratic-Republicans in 1828 and agreed with Jackson's views on some matters, but he began to feel that the president abused his authority, particularly when Jackson crushed the Bank of the United States. Though Tyler had opposed the Bank, when the president abruptly removed the government's deposits from its coffers it placed the national economy at risk. Tyler condemned his rash actions, resigned from the Senate, and left the Democratic-Republican Party.

The new Whig Party had emerged in opposition to the executive tyranny of “King Andrew,” as Jackson was dubbed by his critics. Tyler found himself among other Southern Democrats who were drawn to the new party, though his views were not consistent with it. He had left the Jacksonian Democrats because of Jackson's high-handed methods, but still believed in the Jeffersonian Republican principles upon which the party was founded. The Whigs, believing Tyler could help them win the votes of other former Southern Democrats, nominated him for the vice presidency on the William Henry Harrison (1773–1841; served 1841) ticket in 1840.

Succeeding to the presidency

Harrison and Tyler won the election easily. Then, within a month of his inauguration, Harrison was dead. The first question faced by the nation was fundamental: Was Tyler president in fact or only in name? This was the first time that a vice president had ascended to the presidency upon the death of a president, and the Constitution is vague concerning the succession. Tyler claimed all the rights and privileges of the presidency, establishing the practice that has been followed since that time.

Whig Party members believed Tyler would support their programs, but when Whig leadership submitted a legislative program calling for a higher tariff (duty on imports) and the creation of a new Bank of the United States, Tyler vetoed both measures. Some Whigs angrily charged that Tyler was a traitor. Acting in accord with the strict views he had held since his youth, Tyler stood his ground in the face of tremendous pressure from all sides, which included a rock-throwing mob that attacked the White House.

Unsupported president

Most of Tyler's cabinet members soon resigned in disgust. The president replaced many of them with former Southern Democrats who shared his views. The Whigs brought impeachment charges (charges of misconduct in office) against the man they now called “His Accidency.” He was not convicted, but the Whigs formally expelled him from the party.

Tyler continued to perform his duties in accordance with his principles. By 1844, he hoped for reelection as an independent candidate but did not have enough support. During his last days in the presidency, Tyler signed measures annexing Texas and admitting Florida to statehood

Tyler retired to his plantation in Virginia. When turmoil between the North and South increased during the 1850s, he initially remained loyal to the Union . As compromises failed, though, he publicly supported the idea of the South seceding from the Union. He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, the legislative body for the eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union, but he died in 1862, at the age of 71, before he could assume his seat.