#10 John Tyler- Accidental President

#10 John Tyler- Accidental President

Tyler served as a Virginia state legislator, governor (1825-1827), U.S. representative (1816-1821), and U.S. senator (1827-1836) before his election as vice president (1841). He was put on the ticket to attract states’ rights Southerners to what was then a Whig coalition to defeat Van Buren’s re-election bid. Tyler was known as a supporter of states’ rights, which endeared him to his fellow Virginians. A firm believer in manifest destiny, President Tyler sought to strengthen and preserve the Union through territorial expansion, most notably the annexation of the independent Republic of Texas in his last days in office.

1841;

• Tyler takes Presidency at the age of 51, after Harrison’s death.
• Tyler’s entire cabinet, besides Secretary of State, resigns after he vetoes bill for establishment of the National Bank.

1842;

• Supreme Court of Massachusetts establishes the legality of labor unions in the case of Commonwealth v Hunt
• He signs Webster-Ashburton Treaty
• Tyler’s wife, the first lady Letitia dies.

1844;

• Texas annexation Treaty is signed but fails to gain two-thirds support in the Senate
• First telegraph line established between Washington D.C. and Baltimore
• Treaty of Wanghia signed with Chinese empire
• Tyler gets remarried which causes both parties to pummel him in politics

1845;

• Texas annexation is passed
• Andrew Jackson is laid to rest in Nashville, TN

ANDREW JACKSON TOMB

• Florida (slave) becomes the 27th state of the Union

The circumstances of his unexpected rise to the presidency and his possible threat to the ambitions of other potential presidential candidates left him estranged from both major parties in Washington. 

The President found much of the Whig platform unconstitutional, and vetoed several of his party’s bills. Believing that the president should set policy instead of deferring to Congress, he attempted to bypass them but most of Tyler’s Cabinet resigned soon into his term, dubbing his tenure as “His Accidency”  and expelling him from the party.

Though he was not the first president to veto bills, he was the first to see his veto overridden by Congress. Although he faced a stalemate on domestic policy, he had several foreign-policy achievements, including the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with Qing China.

President Tyler dedicated his last two years in office to the annexation of Texas. He initially sought election to a full term, but after losing the support of both Whigs and Democrats, he withdrew. Although some have praised Tyler’s political resolve, his presidency is generally held in low standards by historians; today, he is considered with little presence in the American cultural memory. 

He was expected to be a passive “acting President” while he finished Harrison’s term. But he refused to be passive. He made enemies in Congress and was the first President to be threatened with impeachment.