| OCR Text |
Show io John Tyler, Born 150 Years Ago, j W Is One of Least-Known Presidents j his But Had a Career That Is Unique j far ' I j JOHN TYLER Tenth President of the United States. &7rp ELMO SCOTT WATSON iLiljpleased by Western Newspaper Union.) OHN TYLER, who was born just 150 years ago, wv & is one f least-known var Residents of the United ind'tates, yet few of our Chief d'tior.cecutives have had a more asefit-eresyng or more unusual ,n evereer. Here are some of the bout -ts which make his unique: ne He was the first vice presi-ow!nt presi-ow!nt to become President ;oangea'on the death of the Chief lr 'is':ecutive. the aHe was the first vice presi-ersto-.nt to be defeated for that fpi;ice in one election and then ars lSe a come-back and win in : the next one. ers. He was the first President he ye; surround himself with a 1 ;!!as irain Trust" of college pro-is, pro-is, . , s a jjsors and experts (even tcher')ugh that name had not yet sted hen coined for it) and in do- ntere';; so he antedated Franklin erySt Roosevelt by nearly a iead'sndred years. ! isn'tle was the only President and cl0 was "purged" by mem- iortL'rs Party ' an( t'iey ,ead, tre more successful in do-jsolauj do-jsolauj that than President : of s.osevelt was in his attempt-"purge" attempt-"purge" of his party! irhea!e was e on President ir ar)i.o ever renounced his alle-boidimce alle-boidimce to the United States. icturefter leaving the White r whkusej he acCepted the lowli- imPm: office ever filled by an ex" ea president that of road over-but over-but er. at an lis wife was the first Presi-ieticvnt's Presi-ieticvnt's wife to die in the White a pciuse. only in fact, the dark thread of i's apath was woven all through the Ihe gt.tern of John Tyler's life. The its aith of a Virginia congressman, in Clopton, in 1816 resulted in )ers er's being chosen to fill the tjrattv'ancy in the house of repre-i0"0ftatives repre-i0"0ftatives and thus brought him mellov the stage of national affairs, cid lat! death of John Taylor in 1824 'here ulted in the nomination of Ty-e(j. Ty-e(j. i to fill the vacancy thus creat-w creat-w jotin the United States senate but tit sck friend, Littleton Tazewell, went I3 elected to the post. The lonora:th of William Henry Harrison d andc'e Tyler President of the Unit-tists Unit-tists t States in 1841 and a little ited fe tnan a year after he moved id has1 the White House, it was imongped in black in mourning for publi; w'fe. Lctitia Christian Tyler, ) died September 10, 1842. And lly his own death prevented E. M holding the last office to which lis ca; was ever elected member-s member-s sens, jn t)le congress 0f the Con--al Pirate States of America. m ay'cr was born at Greenway in y3 aics City county, Virginia, . ch 29, 1790, the son of John sr who had served as gover-Gov- of the Old Dominion from "n M' to 1811. Fourteen years :,00 s-t another John Tyler (the ious itjor) was chief executive of Dinet. j,jnja ijUt after serving one nng a'n was elected to the United m.L'.cs senate. When the doctrine ensa Nullification was proposed by eat oI, South Carolinians, Tyler s was -0 wjl1 njs party an(j resigned 0 a nln the senate. ;y 1835 there was a serious ' ,sm in the Democratic party, only had the "nullifiers," un-cs- the leadership of John C. Cal-hose Cal-hose cin broken away, but a much 1 form' ,r party, which was formed or w"he South under the name of )us oP'c-Rights Whigs, were opposed 1 strct.ie p0iicics 0; jackson and aw Ladministration "regulars." -holdci! Lost H.s F.r Race e wow sion to 11,e campaign of 1836 these 5Upporie-Hights Whigs nominated nuts, t'1 L- White of Tennessee for n ni'uc5'dont and Tyler for vice pres- 1 cnil'1- T'le National Republicans ,Uy inated Gen. William Henry "e(J rison for President and Fran- ac Granger for vice president. Pi t;' the influence of "Old Hick- Gi" who had forced the nomina- PG Val of Iai"tin Van Buren by the 111 'tl.iocrats, was potent enough to rg about his election and with ;n 8 rr.e election of Richard M. u ' r,ison for vice president. So : a l0i Tyler lost out in his first ms for vice president, e is a ' . o. was a dilTct"ent story four s later. As the campaign of 50 approached, Henry Clay pre-" pre-" ;,,d to make his third bid for ile .Presidency. Leaders in the !fiephi' party tlwush certain that is i Burcn' wou,d RO down to de-f de-f tlv in his race for re-election, 3 nt not bcliove that Henry Clav ftivU the man who cou,d carr' the ;t . banner to victory. dephiaking 3 tip from the Demo-3 Demo-3 ' 3" success in electing a mili-wcre mili-wcre t horo..old mckory- Jnck-by Jnck-by )0 they decided upon William f. fy Harrison, a noted Indian to tne and gencrai in the Wa f ity net' 1812. As a running mate for "Old Tippecanoe" they selected the ex-Democrat, ex-Democrat, John Tyler. They believed be-lieved that this cultured Southern gentleman would attract Southern South-ern votes and his friendship for Henry Clay would hold the support sup-port of the Clay faction in the party. In the tumultuous campaign cam-paign which followed, Harrison and Tyler won an easy victory but within a month after taking the oath of office as President, the aged Indian-fighter, worn out by the demands of Whig office-seekers, office-seekers, died on April 4, 1841. Upon succeeding to the presidency, presi-dency, Tyler announced that he would retain the cabinet chosen by Harrison and would carry out the latter's policies. What they were, no one knew for the Whig convention had not adopted any platform and in the campaign there was no discussion of issues between the two parties. As a matter of fact, the Whigs had nominated Harrison because they believed he could be "managed" and Henry Clay intended to do the managing. Early-Day 'Brain Trust.' Although retaining Harrison's cabinet, Tyler immediately assembled as-sembled about him a group of unofficial advisers (the first "Brain Trust") which included Prof. Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, professor of law at William and Mary college, who first suggested suggest-ed an Exchequer Bank plan which Tyler later proposed and whose recommendations about a public lands policy were incorporated incorpo-rated in the Homestead Law of 1862; Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, Massa-chusetts, one of the greatest authorities au-thorities on constitutional law, who was later nominated for chief justice of the Supreme court; Littleton W. Tazewell of Virginia, called by Thomas Jefferson Jef-ferson "one of the most brilliant minds I have ever known"; and Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, later President Polk's secretary of the treasury and author of the tariff of 1846, who became Tyler's spokesman in the senate. As soon as Henry Clay and the other Whig leaders began trying to dictate to Tyler, they discovered discov-ered that the man in the White House had a mind of his own. They first pushed through a bill to establish a United States bank. Tyler vetoed it, and their effort to pass it over his veto failed. When the Whig leaders reproached re-proached Tyler for his action, he reminded them that he had subscribed sub-scribed to no platform and that they should have known his opinions opin-ions before they nominated him. Somewhat crestfallen, they asked him for an outline of a bank bill he would sign. The result re-sult was Tucker's Exchequer Bank plan, which they changed and pushed through both houses. Thereupon Tyler vetoed it and again an attempt to pass it over his disapproval failed. Then congress con-gress passed a protective tariff bill which Tyler vetoed. A program pro-gram for internal improvements to be financed by the federal government gov-ernment met with the same fate, because Tyler believed that the states should make their own internal in-ternal improvements. Swiftly the breach between the President and his party widened. The cabinet, with one exception, resigned. Daniel Webster remained re-mained long enough to complete negotiations for the Wcbster-Ash-burton treaty. Then he resigned. The party was beginning its "puree" of its President. Next the Whig newspapers went ir.to action and filled their columns with denunciations of the President. Presi-dent. There were even threats of assassination. But Tyler stood tu'Ui in his determination to be true to his oath of office. Then 10 members of congress, headed by ex-President John Quincy Adams, Ad-ams, now a member of the house of representatives, brought in a report charging Tyler with violating vio-lating a promise he had made before his nomination and threatening threat-ening to impeach him. Tyler replied re-plied that he had never pledged anything to the Whigs. Despite this denial, the Whig congressmen issued a series of "Addresses to the People" in which they charged that the President Pres-ident had gone into office fully committed to a program which he now repudiated, thus "selling out the party." They listed the reforms which they desired and which they declared, the President Presi-dent was "impeding." Finally, when Tyler filled his cabinet with Southern Democrats, headed by John C. Calhoun as secretary of state, it was the last straw. The Whigs issued a proclamation that "all political connection between them and John Tyler was at an end from that day henceforth." The party had completely purged its President. The remainder of Tyler's term of office was marked by the dispute dis-pute over the slavery question and the annexation of Texas, favored fa-vored by the Democrats and opposed op-posed by the Whigs. Having been "read out of the party," Tyler now had nothing to lose and supported sup-ported the move for annexation, but without success at first. As the 1844 campaign approached, this question became the principal princi-pal issue. James K. Polk, the Democratic nominee, indorsed annexation. Tyler had tried to build up a party of his own and seek re-election. Although he was nominated by a small faction, he was persuaded to withdraw from the race and Polk won. Just before be-fore leaving office Tyler had the satisfaction of seeing his plan for the annexation of Texas accepted by the Lone Star republic and the next year it came into the Union. 'Robin Hood of Virginia.' Tyler's political career was now ended. He retired to his home, Sherwood Forest, where, in a facetious mood, he often referred re-ferred to himself as the "Robin Hood of Virginia." It was during this period of retirement that he accepted the lowly office of road overseer. Although a Virginian and a slaveholder, Tyler was opposed to the institution of slavery and became president of the African Colonization society, formed with the view of recolonizing the slaves in Africa. Early in his career he looked forward to the time when slavery would disappear disap-pear from the South as it already had from some of the Northern states but being a strict constructionist construc-tionist he wanted to bring that about by Constitutional means. As the clouds of the threatened civil war lowered, the ex-President used his influence to help avert it. His last great effort to preserve the Union was as president presi-dent of the Washington Pcce Convention of 1S60, assembled in a last-minute effort to seek some compromise between the North and the South. He looked upon the convention as an attempt to preserve the Constitution and the laws of the nation, which he considered con-sidered the North had sought to ignore, not change. When his native state seceded, Tyler, hke Robert E. Lee, believed be-lieved that his first duty wss to Virginia and he renounced his loyalty to the United States. He I was elected to the Confederate ' congress but died January 17, i 1?.C2. before the ccrcress assern-' bled. |
