Tyler, John

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

John (1790-1862), the tenth president of the United States . He was born at Greenway, Virginia, March 29, 1790, and died at Richmond, January 18, 1862. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1807, and two years later was admitted to the bar. He was from the first a public man. In 1811 he was elected to a seat in the legislature of Virginia, a position which he held for several terms. He served his state as governor and in both houses of Congress. In the latter capacity, he opposed the United States Bank and the tariff. He supported John C. Calhoun in his nullification movement, but was an ardent follower of Henry Clay in various compromise measures. In 1829 the Whigs, desiring to offset William Henry Harrison with a vice-presidential candidate whose views would be acceptable to old-time Southern Democrats, nominated Tyler. The candidates were pledged to a less arbitrary exercise of authority. The famous "log-cabin" campaign was conducted with the war cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." The Whigs carried the day, but Harrison survived the cares of office only a month. He was the first president to die in office. The vice-president had become known facetiously as "His Superfluous Excellency," and Congress hesitated as to the proper manner in which to declare a vice-president advanced to the presidency. President Tyler, however, cut the Gordian knot of procedure by taking the oath of office, declaring himself president, "By the Constitution, by election, and by the hand of God." He retained Harrison's cabinet and started off in full accord with his party. Soon after, however, he felt called upon to veto two successive Whig measures for the reestablishment of a national bank. The Whigs repudiated him. His cabinet, save Webster, resigned. A handful of congressmen dubbed the "Corporal's Guard," stood by him. At the close of his term of office he retired from public life. At the opening of the Civil War he sided with his native state. He was a member of the peace convention that met in Washington in 1861. He was a persistent man of narrow views but of unflinching integrity. Tyler was the fifth and last president from Virginia, "the mother of presidents." See President