John Tyler

I

Introduction

John Tyler (1790-1862), tenth president of the United States (1841-1845), and the first vice president to become president upon the death of the chief executive. Since the Constitution of the United States was vague on the subject, Tyler made the decision to have himself sworn in as president instead of considering himself acting president and calling for new elections. This action was bitterly denounced in Tyler's own day, but it set a precedent that has been followed ever since. Although he is considered one of the minor U.S. presidents, Tyler deserves to be remembered for this precedent, as well as for the annexation of Texas, the one great achievement of his administration.

II

Early Life

John Tyler was the second son of Judge John Tyler and Mary Armistead Tyler. He was born on March 29, 1790, on a plantation on the James River in Virginia. He attended the local school and at the age of 12 was sent to the preparatory-school division of the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg. Admitted to the college three years later, he graduated in 1807. He returned to Charles City County and studied law, first with his father and then with his cousin, Chancellor Samuel Tyler, for two years, after which he was admitted to the practice of law.

III

Political Career

In 1809 Tyler's father became governor of Virginia. Tyler went with him to Richmond and entered the law office of Edmund Randolph, who had retired from a lengthy career in both state and national politics. With Randolph's help, Tyler quickly entered politics and in 1811 was elected to the house of delegates of Virginia's General Assembly, or state legislature.

In 1813 Tyler married Letitia Christian, daughter of a wealthy Virginia merchant. At that time the United States was fighting Great Britain in the War of 1812, and Tyler joined the Virginia militia. However, he saw no action, and within a few months he returned to the General Assembly. In 1816 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Richmond, and he took his seat in the Congress of the United States at the start of the next year.

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A

United States Congressman

Tyler's political views were those of the early Virginia planter-politicians. He believed that government should be in the hands of the landed aristocrats and that the rights of the states should be protected in every way. However, Tyler held these views at a time when Americans, having fought a second war with Britain, were beginning to respond to a heightening nationalism. This was also a period when government by aristocracy was gradually being ended in the United States. Tyler was out of step with the times, as his early career in Congress proved. He fought losing battles against measures that he believed strengthened the federal government and violated states' rights. Tyler opposed the establishment of the second Bank of the United States, the protective tariff, and the Missouri Compromise, which regulated the extension of slavery.

Discouraged by continuous defeat, Tyler resigned his seat in 1821 and returned to Virginia. In 1823 he began to serve again in the state legislature, which in 1825 elected him governor of Virginia and late in 1826 elected him to the U.S. Senate.