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JOHN TYLER |
10th President (1841-1845)
The institutions
under which we live, my countrymen, secure each person in the perfect enjoyment
of all his rights.
- Inaugural address, 1841
Tippecanoe and Tyler, too !!
That seems to be the beginning and the end of the
American public's awareness of President John Tyler. Which is a shame, because
this tall Virginia gentleman has much to teach us about how to serve as
President with integrity and principles. And couldn't we use a little more of
that these days ?
Born in Charles City County, Virginia in 1790, John Tyler
served as Congressman, Senator and Governor of Virginia before being chosen as
William Henry Harrison's Vice Presidential running mate in 1840. General
Harrison had won the Battle of Tippecanoe against Tecumseh's impressive Native
American forces, and the "Tippecanoe" slogan became the centerpiece
of the Whigs' 1840 campaign. Tyler had actually been a member of the Democrat
party until 1833, when he had to leave the party because he dared to oppose
Andrew Jackson's programs. For whatever reason, the Whigs chose the independent
Tyler to run with "Ol' Tippecanoe", never dreaming of what would
follow.
After winning the election, President Harrison gave a
long-winded inaugural speech (the longest ever) in a cold March rain, caught
pneumonia and died exactly one month later, after having served the shortest
time of any President before or since. The Whigs were now stuck with Tyler, the
first President ever to come to office by constitutional succession, who had
not exhibited any deep allegiance to Whig principles. Almost immediately,
things began to unravel.
His core belief in states' rights led him to veto a bill
for a federal Bank of the United States, which the Whig majority in Congress
favored. Incredibly, every member of Tyler's original Cabinet except Secretary
of State Daniel Webster resigned in protest (and Webster stayed on only because
he was deeply involved in settling a major border dispute with Great Britain at
the time, and felt he could not resign under the circumstances). Tyler also
alienated the Whigs by repudiating their spoils system and refusing to appoint
Whigs to replace certain Democrat ministers serving abroad. Clearly, Tyler was
no "party animal", and believed in making decisions based on an
idea's merit and impact on what he perceived to be the nation's best interests,
without regard to politics. In fact, about the only thing Tyler and the Whigs
agreed on was the annexation of Texas in 1845. As a result, the Whigs had no
control over the man they had put in the White House, and it came as no
surprise when they failed to re-nominate him in 1844. President Tyler decided
to withdraw from the race before the election and left office a President
without a party - the only President ever to have had that dubious distinction.
In 1861, former President John Tyler [somewhat like
Jimmie Carter] led a peace mission to Washington from the Southern states in an
effort to avert the impending Civil War. The mission failed and Tyler, ever
devoted to the principle of states' rights, supported the South's secession
from the Union. He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives but
died shortly thereafter in 1862, at the age of 71.