John Tyler's Break With The Whigs
On August 16, 1841 (171 years ago today) President John Tyler vetoed a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. In response, enraged Whig Party members rioted outside the White House in what is said to be the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
The Bank of the United States had been an institution on which Democrats and Whigs were divided. Andrew Jackson refused to renew the charter of Second Bank of the United States, resulting in the withdrawal of government funds from that bank. This in turn led to the Panic of 1837, which pretty much assured that Martin Van Buren would be a one term President. His successor, William Henry Harrison, had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and to work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay in re-establishing the National Bank. But when Harrison died after only a month in office, and John Tyler succeeded him, at first Tyler was in accord with the new Whig Congress. He signed laws that granted "squatters' sovereignty" to settlers on public land, and the repeal of the Independent Treasury enacted under Van Buren.
Tyler was at odds with the Congressional Whigs on the subject of chartering the National Bank. Twice he vetoed Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837. Although the bills supposedly had been tailored to meet his stated objections in the first veto, its final version was not. This practice, designed to protect Clay from having a successful incumbent President as a rival in the next election, became known as "heading Captain Tyler," a term coined by Whig Representative John Minor Botts of Virginia. Tyler proposed an alternative fiscal plan to be known as the "Exchequer," but Clay's friends, who controlled the Congress, would have none of it.
A violent protest erupted just outside the White House on the evening of August 16, 1841 in response to President Tyler's veto of the Fiscal Bank Bill. The bill had been passed by the 27th United States Congress and would have reestablished a Bank of the United States. This riot began when incensed, drunk members of the Whig Party gathered outside the White House to express their disapproval of President Tyler, who was then a member of the Whig Party. It degenerated into a violent demonstration where a crowd of protesters threw stones at the White House, fired guns into the air and burned an effigy of President Tyler. No less enraged some weeks later, the Whig Party expelled President Tyler as a member while at the same time all of his Whig Party cabinet members resigned in protest.
Partially in response to the Whig Party Riot, Congress formed the Auxiliary Guard, the forerunner to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, to protect against violent protests and enforce the police regulations of the City of Washington, D.C.
On September 11, 1841, following the second bank veto, members of the cabinet went to Tyler's office one by one and resigned. It was a stuny orchestration by Clay to force Tyler's resignation. Clay hoped to place his own supporter, Senate President Pro Tempore Samuel L. Southard, in the White House. Only Secretary of State Webster remained to finalize what became the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, as well as to demonstrate his independence from Clay. Two days later, when Tyler refused to resign, the Whigs in Congress officially expelled Tyler from the party. A national backlash ensued, as Tyler was lambasted by Whig newspapers and received hundreds of letters threatening his assassination.
Whigs in the House of Representatives initiated the first impeachment proceedings against a President in American history. This was in response to Tyler's veto of the Bank legislation as well as his veto of a Whig tariff bill. John Minor Botts of Virginia, who had been one of Tyler's greatest critics, introduced a resolution on July 10, 1842. It levied several charges against the President and called for a nine-member committee to investigate his behavior, with the expectation of a formal impeachment recommendation. Although he disliked Tyler, Clay found this measure too drastic and the impeachment bill was tabled until the following January, when it was rejected, 127-83.
A House select committee headed by Congressman and former President John Quincy Adams, condemned Tyler's use of the veto. Adams, an ardent abolitionist, disliked the President for being a slaveholder. While the committee's report did not formally recommend impeachment, it suggested the possibility. In August 1842, by a vote of 98–90, the House endorsed the committee's report. Adams sponsored a constitutional amendment to change the two-thirds requirement to override a veto to a simple majority, but neither house passed such a measure. The Whigs were unable to pursue further impeachment proceedings in the subsequent 28th Congress, as in the elections of 1842 they lost control of the House. Near the end of Tyler's term in office, on March 3, 1845, Congress overrode his veto of a minor bill relating to revenue cutters. This marked the first time any president's veto had been overridden.
The Bank of the United States had been an institution on which Democrats and Whigs were divided. Andrew Jackson refused to renew the charter of Second Bank of the United States, resulting in the withdrawal of government funds from that bank. This in turn led to the Panic of 1837, which pretty much assured that Martin Van Buren would be a one term President. His successor, William Henry Harrison, had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and to work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay in re-establishing the National Bank. But when Harrison died after only a month in office, and John Tyler succeeded him, at first Tyler was in accord with the new Whig Congress. He signed laws that granted "squatters' sovereignty" to settlers on public land, and the repeal of the Independent Treasury enacted under Van Buren.
Tyler was at odds with the Congressional Whigs on the subject of chartering the National Bank. Twice he vetoed Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837. Although the bills supposedly had been tailored to meet his stated objections in the first veto, its final version was not. This practice, designed to protect Clay from having a successful incumbent President as a rival in the next election, became known as "heading Captain Tyler," a term coined by Whig Representative John Minor Botts of Virginia. Tyler proposed an alternative fiscal plan to be known as the "Exchequer," but Clay's friends, who controlled the Congress, would have none of it.
A violent protest erupted just outside the White House on the evening of August 16, 1841 in response to President Tyler's veto of the Fiscal Bank Bill. The bill had been passed by the 27th United States Congress and would have reestablished a Bank of the United States. This riot began when incensed, drunk members of the Whig Party gathered outside the White House to express their disapproval of President Tyler, who was then a member of the Whig Party. It degenerated into a violent demonstration where a crowd of protesters threw stones at the White House, fired guns into the air and burned an effigy of President Tyler. No less enraged some weeks later, the Whig Party expelled President Tyler as a member while at the same time all of his Whig Party cabinet members resigned in protest.
Partially in response to the Whig Party Riot, Congress formed the Auxiliary Guard, the forerunner to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, to protect against violent protests and enforce the police regulations of the City of Washington, D.C.
On September 11, 1841, following the second bank veto, members of the cabinet went to Tyler's office one by one and resigned. It was a stuny orchestration by Clay to force Tyler's resignation. Clay hoped to place his own supporter, Senate President Pro Tempore Samuel L. Southard, in the White House. Only Secretary of State Webster remained to finalize what became the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, as well as to demonstrate his independence from Clay. Two days later, when Tyler refused to resign, the Whigs in Congress officially expelled Tyler from the party. A national backlash ensued, as Tyler was lambasted by Whig newspapers and received hundreds of letters threatening his assassination.
Whigs in the House of Representatives initiated the first impeachment proceedings against a President in American history. This was in response to Tyler's veto of the Bank legislation as well as his veto of a Whig tariff bill. John Minor Botts of Virginia, who had been one of Tyler's greatest critics, introduced a resolution on July 10, 1842. It levied several charges against the President and called for a nine-member committee to investigate his behavior, with the expectation of a formal impeachment recommendation. Although he disliked Tyler, Clay found this measure too drastic and the impeachment bill was tabled until the following January, when it was rejected, 127-83.
A House select committee headed by Congressman and former President John Quincy Adams, condemned Tyler's use of the veto. Adams, an ardent abolitionist, disliked the President for being a slaveholder. While the committee's report did not formally recommend impeachment, it suggested the possibility. In August 1842, by a vote of 98–90, the House endorsed the committee's report. Adams sponsored a constitutional amendment to change the two-thirds requirement to override a veto to a simple majority, but neither house passed such a measure. The Whigs were unable to pursue further impeachment proceedings in the subsequent 28th Congress, as in the elections of 1842 they lost control of the House. Near the end of Tyler's term in office, on March 3, 1845, Congress overrode his veto of a minor bill relating to revenue cutters. This marked the first time any president's veto had been overridden.