Happy Birthday Your Accidency
On March 29, 1790 (222 years ago today) John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States, was born in Charles City County, Virginia. Tyler has the distinction of being the first Vice-President to become President following the death of a sitting President. Because this was the first time such a thing had happened, no one really knew how the constitution was supposed to work, i.e. whether Tyler was "acting President", whether an election had to be called or whether he stepped into the shoes of the President. By being resolute and not wilting in the face of pressure from certain members of congress, Tyler decided the issue once and for all.
Tyler was born to a wealthy aristocratic Virginia family. He was elected to a term as Governor of Virginia in 1825 and served as one of Virginia's senators from 1827 to 1836. In 1840 he ran for Vice President on the Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison. On April 4, 1841, only a month after his inauguration, Harrison died and a constitutional crisis arose over how the succession process was supposed to work. Tyler asserted his authority by moving into the White House, taking the oath of office, and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually be written into law by way of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. In doing so, Tyler made an enemy of powerful Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, who thought that Tyler should have been answerable to Clay and the other Whig leaders. But Tyler was very much his own man.
Once he became president Tyler opposed many of his party's positions and vetoed several of their bills. As a result, most of his cabinet resigned, and the Whigs started calling Tyler "His Accidency." They expelled him from the party. While he couldn't get much accomplished domestically, he made several foreign policy accomplishments, signing the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with China.
Tyler dedicated his last two years in office to his greatest accomplishment, the annexation of the Republic of Texas. He managed to get this accomplished in the final days of his Presidency as his successor James K. Polk was waiting to begin his turn.
Tyler stayed out of politics until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He sided with the Confederate government, and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives shortly before his death. Because of this, he is the only President not to be officially mourned at the time of his death.
Tyler is also remembered for being very productive in another way. He was the father of 15 children, the most of any President (or at least so far as any of them will admit.) His first wife Letitia died in 1842. He married his second wife Julia, who was 30 years younger than him, in 1844. Having fathered 15 children and kept a much younger wife happy, the man must have had strong swimmers.
Tyler was born to a wealthy aristocratic Virginia family. He was elected to a term as Governor of Virginia in 1825 and served as one of Virginia's senators from 1827 to 1836. In 1840 he ran for Vice President on the Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison. On April 4, 1841, only a month after his inauguration, Harrison died and a constitutional crisis arose over how the succession process was supposed to work. Tyler asserted his authority by moving into the White House, taking the oath of office, and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually be written into law by way of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. In doing so, Tyler made an enemy of powerful Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, who thought that Tyler should have been answerable to Clay and the other Whig leaders. But Tyler was very much his own man.
Once he became president Tyler opposed many of his party's positions and vetoed several of their bills. As a result, most of his cabinet resigned, and the Whigs started calling Tyler "His Accidency." They expelled him from the party. While he couldn't get much accomplished domestically, he made several foreign policy accomplishments, signing the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with China.
Tyler dedicated his last two years in office to his greatest accomplishment, the annexation of the Republic of Texas. He managed to get this accomplished in the final days of his Presidency as his successor James K. Polk was waiting to begin his turn.
Tyler stayed out of politics until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He sided with the Confederate government, and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives shortly before his death. Because of this, he is the only President not to be officially mourned at the time of his death.
Tyler is also remembered for being very productive in another way. He was the father of 15 children, the most of any President (or at least so far as any of them will admit.) His first wife Letitia died in 1842. He married his second wife Julia, who was 30 years younger than him, in 1844. Having fathered 15 children and kept a much younger wife happy, the man must have had strong swimmers.