Tall, thin, and clear-minded John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States, was an individualist whose ideas about government could not be labeled Democratic or Whig. Though an advocate of states rights, Tyler worked to preserve the Union. Though he personally disliked the institution of slavery, he fought any attempt to curtail its spread, as he believed the quicker it spread, the faster it would disappear. His non-conformity to the party platform made him an attractive Vice Presidential candidate on the Whig ticket of 1840, as it was believed that Tyler would attract the votes of "turncoat Democrats," (Democrats dissatisfied with the Van Buren Administration). When President Harrison died unexpectedly after only thirty days in office, it was this same non-conformity that met with friction from the Whig-controlled Congress and injured the effectiveness of his Presidency.
John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790 in Greenway, Charles City County, Virginia. He was the second son born to Mary Armisted and John Tyler. John Tyler senior was a wealthy Virginia planter, governor of Virginia 1808-1811, and United States district judge 1812-1813. Mary Armisted was the sole heiress of the Armisted fortune. Mary Armisted died when John junior was only seven. John Tyler junior was raised by his father, who saw to it that the boy receive the very best in an elementary school education. At age fourteen John Tyler enrolled in William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. He completed his studies at William and Mary in three years and returned to Charles City County where he took up studying law under his father. He passed the bar in 1809.
In 1811 John Tyler was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican. He was re-elected to this position five times, finally leaving the House in 1815.
On March 20, 1813, John Tyler married Letitia Christian.
In November of 1816, John Tyler was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He held his seat until poor health forced him to resign in 1821. In the House, Tyler built up a reputation as a strong supporter of states rights and slavery. He opposed federally funded internal improvements, a national bankruptcy law, a bill increasing the salary of members of Congress to $1,500 a year, and the Second National Bank Charter. He opposed the Missouri Compromise, holding that Congress did not have the right to make laws for or against slavery in any territory.
In 1823 Tyler returned to the Virginia House of Delegates. He was elected governor of Virginia in 1825, but resigned from the position in 1827 to take a seat in the United States Senate.
While in the Senate, Tyler was a chief supporter of the compromise tariff that was ultimately accepted by South Carolina in the nullification crisis of 1832. Tyler had supported South Carolina's decision to reject the original tariff, but doubted the legality of such an action under the Constitution. Tyler was the only Senator to vote against President Jackson's request to use force against South Carolina in the crisis. When President Jackson opposed the renewal of the charter of the Second National Bank, Senator Tyler began to break with the Democrats. Though he himself opposed the renewal of the National Bank, Tyler sided with Jackson's opposition on the grounds that Jackson's political tactics were reckless, and tended towards despotism. In 1833 Tyler sided with the newly-formed Whig Party in issuing a censure of President Jackson for his unauthorized removal of federal funds from the National Bank. When, in 1836, a mandate from his constituents required that Tyler vote to overturn the 1833 censure of President Jackson, John Tyler resigned his seat.
In the election of 1836, John Tyler ran as a regional Whig candidate for the office of Vice President. Though the election was won by Jacksonian Democrat Martin Van Buren with Richard Johnson taking the Vice Presidency, Tyler's strong showing in 1836 made him a likely candidate for the Vice Presidency in 1840.
The national Whig Party, lead by Henry Clay, nominated William Henry Harrison for the office of President. Harrison, nicknamed "Tippecanoe" for his exploits at the Battle of Tippecanoe in the War of 1812, was selected for his popularity as a war hero. Since Harrison conformed to the Whig Party line, John Tyler was selected as his running mate to balance the ticket. It was well known that Tyler's ideas were out of the Whig mainstream, and it was intended that Tyler's presence on the Whig ticket would attract other "turncoat Democrats" (a title given to Tyler by his Jacksonian enemies).
In the election of 1840, issues were lost in a storm of parades, songs, pep rally-style speeches, and catchy slogans. The Whigs rode the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" all the way to the White House. William Henry Harrison became the ninth President of the United States on March 4, 1841, and John Tyler became his Vice President.
With the unexpected death of President Harrison thirty days after taking office, John Tyler found himself in the office of the President. The Whigs, who had chosen the aging Harrison (he was 68) for the Presidency because of his malleability, now found themselves with a President they could not control. The Constitution had specified that the Vice President should take on the duties and responsibilities of the President in the event of death, but it said nothing about becoming President. The Whigs, in an attempt to limit the power of the Presidency under Tyler, held that Tyler was only acting President. Tyler however, assumed the office, title and all.
When the Whig-controlled Congress passed a bill to reinstate the National Bank, President Tyler vetoed it. When Congress passed the bill a second time, and Tyler vetoed it a second time, Tyler's entire cabinet, except Daniel Webster, resigned. President Tyler was officially excommunicated from the Whig Party and for the rest of his administration met with constant opposition from Congress. The Whigs under Henry Clay went so far as to bring an article of impeachment into Congress, but the article was voted down.
President Tyler's wife Letitia died in the White House in 1842. Tyler soon after met and fell in love with Julia Gardner, a twenty-four-year-old socialite from New York. Despite the scandal Julia's youth had created in Washington society, President John Tyler married Julia Gardner in New York on June 26, 1844. The marriage took place in the wake of an accident in which Julia's father, and several members of President Tyler's cabinet were killed when a canon aboard the naval frigate Princeton exploded during a demonstration. Julia and John Tyler had seven children together, bringing the total number of children John Tyler fathered to fifteen.
Texas had won its independence from Mexico in 1836. President Tyler supported annexation of Texas and began to work out a treaty. Tyler had planned to use the issue of annexation as a means by which to get re-elected. When both the Democratic and Whig Parties refused to nominate him for re-election, Tyler started his own party which he called the New Democratic-Republican Party. When the Democrats nominated James K. Polk, who advocated the annexation of Texas, as its candidate for the Presidency in the election of 1844, President Tyler gave up hope of re-election and dropped out of the race.
On December 4, 1844 lame-duck President Tyler asked that his treaty for the annexation of Texas be ratified by a simple majority in both houses. This was controversial because it disregarded the two thirds majority required by the Constitution. On January 25, 1845 the House ratified President Tyler's treaty 120-98. On February 27, 1845 the Senate also ratified President Tyler's treaty. President John Tyler signed the treaty annexing Texas on March 1, 1845, three days before leaving office.
John Tyler retired with his new bride to Sherwood Forest, his Virginia estate, on March 4, 1845. In 1861, John Tyler attended the Washington Peace Conference, a last ditch effort to preserve the Union before the Civil War. When Virginia seceded, however, John Tyler proclaimed his loyalty to the South. He was elected to Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia, but died before he could take his seat. John Tyler died on January 18, 1862.
