John Tyler and James Knox Polk-the President of the United States
John Tyler and James Knox Polk-the President of the United States
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845). A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President in 1840. He was the first to succeed to the office of President on the death of the incumbent, Sony VGN-FW21E Keyboard
succeeding William Henry Harrison. Tyler's opposition to federalism and emphatic support of states' rights endeared him to his fellow Virginians but alienated him from most of the political allies that brought him to power in Washington. Sony VGN-FW21L Keyboard
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Sony VGN-FW51MF/H KeyboardHis presidency was crippled by opposition from both parties, and near the end of his life he would side with the South in its secession from the United States.
Tyler was born to an aristocratic Virginia family of English descent, and came to national prominence at a time of political upheaval. Sony VGN-FW21M Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW51ZF/H Keyboard In the 1820s, the nation's only political party, the Democratic-Republicans, split into factions, most of which did not share Tyler's strict constructionist ideals. Though initially a Democrat, his opposition to Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren led him to alliance with the Whig Party; Sony VGN-FW31M Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW51 Keyboardhe was elected Vice President In 1840 on the Whig ticket. Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison on 4 April 1841, only a month after his inauguration, a short Constitutional crisis arose over the succession process. Sony VGN-FW11J Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW51ZF/H Keyboard Tyler immediately moved into the White House, took the oath of office, and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually be codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Sony VGN-FW11Z Keyboard
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As President, Tyler opposed the Whig platform and vetoed several of their proposals. As a result, most of his cabinet resigned, and the Whigs, dubbing him His Accidency, expelled him from the party. While he faced a stalemate on domestic policy, Sony VGN-FW11ZRU Keyboard
he still had several foreign policy achievements, including the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with Qing China. Tyler dedicated his last two years in office to the annexation of Texas.
Sony VGN-FW4ZTJ/H KeyboardHe sought election to a full term, but he had alienated both Whigs and Democrats and his efforts to form a new party came to nothing. In the last days of his term, Congress passed the resolution authorizing annexation, which was carried out by Tyler's successor as President, James K. Polk. Sony VGN-FW11ZU Keyboard
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Tyler essentially retired from electoral politics until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He sided with the Confederate government, and won election to the Confederate House of Representatives shortly before his death. Sony VGN-FW21J Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW41ZJ/H KeyboardAlthough some have praised Tyler's political resolve, his presidency is generally held in low esteem by historians; today he is considered an obscure president, with little presence in the American cultural memory.[1]
John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790, the first President to be born after the adoption of the Constitution. From birth he was politically tied to his future running mate William Henry Harrison: both were born in Charles City County, Virginia, Sony VGN-FW21ZR Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW41J/H Keyboardand descended from aristocratic and politically entrenched families. The Tyler family proudly traced its lineage to colonial Williamsburg in the 17th century. John Tyler, Sr., popularly known as Judge Tyler, Sony VGN-FW3ZJ Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW41E/H Keyboard was a friend and college roommate of Thomas Jefferson and served in the Virginia House of Delegates alongside William's father Benjamin Harrison V. Judge Tyler served four years as Virginia Speaker of the House before becoming a state court judge. Sony VGN-FW56M Keyboard
He would later serve as governor and as a judge on the U.S. District Court at Richmond. His wife, Mary Marot (Armistead), was the daughter of a prominent plantation owner, Robert Booth Armistead. She died of a stroke when her son John was seven years old.[2] Sony VGN-FW56E Keyboard
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The young Tyler was raised with his two brothers and five sisters on Greenway Plantation, a 1,200-acre (5 km2) estate with a six-room mansion his father had built.[a] Various crops including wheat, corn, and tobacco were grown at Greenway by the Tylers' forty slaves.[3] Tyler was an unhealthy child, Sony VGN-FW31E Keyboard
very thin and prone to chronic diarrhea. Such afflictions would continue to burden him throughout his life.[4Sony VGN-FW31J Keyboard
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] At the age of twelve, he entered the preparatory branch of the elite College of William and Mary, continuing the Tyler family's tradition of attending the college. Tyler graduated from the school's collegiate branch in 1807, Sony VGN-FW11MR Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW56Z Keyboardat age seventeen. Among the books that informed his economic views was Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. His political views were deeply shaped by Bishop James Madison, the college's president, who served as a second father and mentor to him.[5] Sony VGN-FW11S Keyboard
After graduation Tyler went on to study law with his father, who was a state judge at the time. Tyler was admitted to the bar at the age of 19, in violation of bar regulations: the judge who administered the bar exam neglected to inquire about his age. By this time his father had become Governor of Virginia (1808–1811), Sony VGN-FW11SR Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW54J Keyboardand the young Tyler started a practice in Richmond.[6]
Early political career [edit]
Start in Virginia politics [edit]
At the age of 28, Tyler was elected by his fellow Charles City County residents to the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. He served five successive one-year terms (and would return later in his career), Sony VGN-FW11Z Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW56ZR Keyboard seated on the Courts and Justice committee. The young politician's defining attributes were on display by the end of his first term: a strong support of states' rights and opposition to a national bank. Sony VGN-FW11ZRU Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW51E/H Keyboard He joined fellow legislator, Benjamin W. Leigh, in pushing for the censure of U.S. Senators William Branch Giles and Richard Brent from Virginia, who had voted for the recharter of the First Bank of the United States against the legislature's instructions.[7]
Tyler married his first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, in 1813 while serving in the Virginia House of Delegates.
In addition to infighting over the national bank, the United States was facing ongoing hostilities with Britain in the War of 1812. Tyler's education had impressed on him a strong sense of anti-British nationalism,
Sony VGN-FW46Z Keyboardand at the onset of the war he urged military action on the assembly floor. After the British capture of Hampton, Virginia in the summer of 1813, Tyler eagerly organized a small militia company of county residents to defend Richmond, but no attack came their way and he dissolved the company two months later. Sony VGN-FW11ZU Keyboard
[8] That same year his father died, and Tyler inherited thirteen slaves along with his father's estate.[9] In 1816 he resigned to serve on the Governor's Council of State, a group of eight advisers elected by the legislature.[7] Sony VGN-FW21MR Keyboard
U.S. House of Representatives [edit]
Tyler's three terms in the United States House of Representatives would be his foray into national politics. The death of U.S. Representative John Clopton in the fall of 1816 left a vacancy in the 23rd district which Tyler was well positioned to fill. Sony VGN-FW21SR Keyboard
He faced his friend and political ally Andrew Stevenson, then Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, in the congressional election. The race was amicable despite the high political stakes. Tyler's political connections and campaigning skills won him the election by a slim margin. Sony VGN-FW21ZR Keyboard
Sony VGN-FW46S KeyboardHe was sworn in as a Democratic-Republican[b] to the Fourteenth Congress on December 17, 1816, to complete Clopton's term. He was re-elected to a full term the following spring.[10] Sony PCG-41111M Keyboard
While the Democratic-Republicans had a historical platform of states' rights, they had begun to adopt nationalist tendencies. In the wake of the War of 1812, Congress was pushing to fund the states' reconstruction and infrastructure projects. Sony PCG-41112M Keyboard
Sony PCG-51211M Keyboard Tyler held fast to his strict constructionist beliefs, rejecting such proposals on both constitutional and personal grounds. Virginia was not "in so poor a condition as to require a charitable donation from Congress," he contended.[10] Sony PCG-81111M Keyboard
Sony PCG-51112M Keyboard He was chosen to participate in an audit of the Second Bank of the United States in 1818 as part of a five-person committee, and was appalled by perceived corruption within the bank. He argued for the annulment of the bank charter, although Congress rejected any such proposal.
Sony PCG-51111M Keyboard His first clash with then-General Andrew Jackson followed Jackson's 1818 invasion of Florida during the First Seminole War. While praising Jackson's character, Tyler condemned the general's zealous behavior and his execution of two British subjects. Tyler was re-elected without opposition in early 1819.[11] Sony PCG-81112M Keyboard
The defining issue of the Sixteenth Congress (1819–21) was the admission of Missouri to the Union, and whether slavery would be permitted in the new state.[12] Tyler was a slaveholder for his entire life, at one point keeping forty slaves at Greenway. While he regarded slavery as an evil, and never attempted to justify it,
Sony PCG-51512M Keyboardhe never agreed with national emancipation, and never freed any of his slaves even at the dawn of the Civil War. The living conditions of his slaves are not well documented, but historians agree that he cared for their well-being and abstained from physical violence against them.[13]
Tyler was a leader in opposing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which would for the first time establish national boundaries for the establishment of slavery. In his view, the compromise served only to diminish and divide the states, Sony PCG-81212M Keyboard
Sony PCG-21313M Keyboardwhile unnecessarily expanding federal authority. Acknowledging the ills of slavery, he argued that allowing it in Missouri would attract existing slave-owners from Southern states, dissipating the population of slaves and reducing each state's reliance on the practice. Sony PCG-81113M Keyboard
Sony PCG-81313M KeyboardThus, in his view, emancipation would occur organically at the state level without federal intervention. He voted against the Missouri Compromise—which passed regardless—and all bills which would restrict slavery in new territories.[12] Sony PCG-5S1M Keyboard
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Tyler declined to seek renomination to Congress in late 1820, citing illness. He privately acknowledged his dissatisfaction with the office, as his opposing votes were largely symbolic and did little to change the political culture in Washington; Sony PCG-5P1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7186M Keyboard he also observed that funding his children's education would be difficult on a Congressman's low salary. He left office on March 4, 1821, endorsing his former opponent Stevenson for the seat, and returned to private law.[14] Sony PCG-5N2M Keyboard
Return to state politics [edit]
He was soon drafted for a second stint in the Virginia House of Delegates, which lasted from December 1823 to December 1825. Upon taking office he found the chamber thrust into debate over the impending presidential election of 1824. The congressional nominating caucus, an early system for choosing presidential candidates, Sony PCG-3C2M Keyboard
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Sony PCG-7181M Keyboard was still in effect despite its growing unpopularity. Tyler attempted to bring the lower house to endorse the caucus system and choose William H. Crawford as the Democratic-Republican candidate. Sony PCG-7196M Keyboard
Despite the legislature's support of Crawford, opposition to the caucus system killed his proposal. Tyler's most lasting effort in this second legislative tenure was salvaging the College of William and Mary, which suffered from waning attendance and risked closure. Sony PCG-7192M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7161M KeyboardRather than move it from rural Williamsburg to the populous capital of Richmond, as some suggested, Tyler proposed that a series of administrative and financial reforms be enacted. His reforms were successfully adopted: by 1840 the school would see its highest-ever attendance.[15] Sony PCG-7194M Keyboard
An engraving of Tyler in his mid-thirties (c. 1826) as Governor of Virginia.
Tyler's political fortunes were growing, with his name taken up for consideration in the 1824 U.S. Senate election.[1
Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard6] He was nominated in December 1825 for Governor of Virginia, a position which was then appointed by the legislature. He was elected 131–81 over John Floyd, whose candidacy had little traction. The office of governor was determinately powerless under the original Virginia Constitution (1776–1830), Sony PCG-7144M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7143M Keyboard lacking even veto authority. Tyler enjoyed a prominent oratorical platform but could do little to influence the legislature. His most visible act as governor was delivering the funeral address for President Thomas Jefferson, Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard
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Sony PCG-7154M Keyboarda Virginia native who died on July 4, 1826.[c] Tyler was deeply devoted to Jefferson, and his ornate eulogy was well received.[17] Sony PCG-7141M Keyboard
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Tyler's governorship was otherwise uneventful. He promoted states' rights and adamantly opposed any concentration of federal power. In order to thwart federal infrastructure proposals, he suggested Virginia actively expand its own road system. Sony PCG-3F1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71911M KeyboardA proposal was made to expand the state's poorly funded public school system, but no significant action was taken.[18] Tyler was re-elected unanimously to a second term in December 1826.[19] Sony PCG-3H1M Keyboard
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U.S. Senate [edit]
In January 1827, the Virginia General Assembly was considering the impending re-election of U.S. Senator John Randolph. Randolph was a contentious figure: although he shared the staunch states' rights views held by most of the Virginia legislature, he had a reputation for fiery rhetoric and erratic behavior on the Senate floor, Sony PCG-3C1M Keyboard
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which put his allies in an awkward position. Furthermore, he had made enemies by fiercely opposing John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. The nationalist wing of the Democratic–Republican Party, who supported Adams and Clay, Sony PCG-3G2M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71811M Keyboardwere a sizable minority in the Virginia legislature. They hoped to unseat Randolph by capturing the vote of states'-rights supporters who were uncomfortable with the senator's reputation. Sony PCG-61211M Keyboard
Sony PCG-61611M KeyboardThey approached Tyler, and promised their endorsement if he ran against Randolph. Tyler repeatedly declined the offer, endorsing Randolph as the best candidate, but the political pressure continued to mount. Sony PCG-71211M Keyboard
Sony PCG-61511M Keyboard Eventually he conceded that he would accept the seat if chosen, and the legislature elected him in a vote of 115—110.[d] He resigned his governorship on March 4, 1827, as his Senate term began.[20] Sony PCG-71213M Keyboard
Tenuous alliance [edit]
By that time of Tyler's election to the Senate, the 1828 presidential election was in progress. Adams, the incumbent President, was challenged by Andrew Jackson. The Democratic-Republicans had splintered into Adams' National Republicans and the Jacksonian
Sony PCG-71511M KeyboardDemocrats. Tyler was repulsed by both candidates, each embodying the nationalist views he had always rejected. Still, he was increasingly drawn to Jackson, hoping that he would be less insistent on internal improvements than Adams. Sony PCG-71212M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71411M Keyboard In considering Jackson he wrote, "Turning to him I may at least indulge in hope; looking on Adams I must despair."[21] Sony PCG-71312M Keyboard
The first session of the Twentieth Congress began in early December 1827.[e] Tyler served alongside his close friend Littleton Waller Tazewell, a fellow Virginian who shared his strict constructionist views and uneasy support of Jackson. Sony PCG-71311M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71313M Keyboard Throughout his Senate service, Tyler vigorously opposed all bills which provided for national infrastructure projects. He and his Southern colleagues were appalled by the protectionist Tariff of 1828, Sony PCG-5P2m Keyboard
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known to its detractors as the "Tariff of Abominations". Tyler suggested that the Tariff's only positive outcome would be a national political backlash, restoring a respect for states' rights.[22]
Despite supporting Jackson in the 1828 election, Tyler soon found points of disagreement with the President. He was frustrated by Jackson's newly emerging spoils system, Sony PCG-5R2M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7171M Keyboarddescribing it as an "electioneering weapon". He voted against many of the President's nominations when they appeared to be based on patronage or did not follow Constitutional procedure.
Sony PCG-7186M KeyboardSuch an act was considered "an act of insurgency" against his party.[23] He was particularly offended by Jackson's use of the recess appointment power to name three treaty commissioners to meet with Turkey; he authored a bill chastising the President for this use of executive power.[24]
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Still, Tyler attempted to remain on good terms with Jackson, only opposing him on principle rather than partisanship. He defended Jackson for vetoing the Maysville Road funding project, which Jackson considered unconstitutional.[ Sony PCG-5T1M Keyboard
25] He voted to confirm several of the President's appointments (including Jackson's future running mate Martin Van Buren) despite strong opposition from the National Republicans.[26]
Sony PCG-7184M KeyboardThe leading issue in the 1832 presidential election was the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States, which both Tyler and Jackson opposed. Congress voted to recharter the bank in July 1832, Sony PCG-7182M Keyboard and Jackson vetoed the bill for a mixture of constitutional and practical reasons. Tyler voted to sustain the veto and endorsed Jackson for re-election.[27]
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Break with Democrats [edit]
Tyler's uneasy relationship with his party came to a head during the 22nd Congress, as the Nullification Crisis of 1832–33 began. The state of South Carolina, threatening secession, passed the Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832, Sony PCG-5T2M Keyboard
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declaring the "Tariff of Abominations" null and void within its borders. This raised the constitutional question of whether states had the right to nullify federal laws. President Jackson, who denied such a right, Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard
prepared to sign a Force Bill allowing the federal government to use military action to enforce the tariff in South Carolina. Tyler, who sympathized with South Carolina's reasons for nullification, rejected Jackson's use of military force against a state and gave a speech in February 1833
Sony VGN-NS20EF/W keyboardoutlining his views. He supported Henry Clay's attempts to craft the Compromise Tariff of 1833. This bill would gradually reduce the tariff over ten years, alleviating tensions between the states and the federal government.[28] Sony VGN-NW20ZF Keyboard
In voting against the Force Bill, Tyler knew he would permanently alienate the pro-Jackson faction of the Virginia legislature, even those who had tolerated his irregularity up to this point. This would jeopardize his re-election in February 1833, Sony VGN-NW24S Keyboard
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in which he faced the pro-administration Democrat James McDowell. With Clay's endorsement, Tyler was re-elected to a full term by a twelve-vote plurality; several legislators who had supported him only weeks beforehand were moved to vote against him as a result of the Force Bill vote.[29]
Jackson further offended Tyler by moving to dissolve the Bank by executive fiat. In September 1833, Jackson issued an executive order directing Treasury Secretary Roger B. Taney to transfer federal funds from the Bank to state-run banks immediately. Tyler saw this as "a flagrant assumption of power",
Sony VGN-NS30Z keyboard a breach of contract, and a threat to the economy. After months of agonizing, he decided to ally with Clay and the anti-Jackson factions of Congress on the bank issue, while still maintaining the Bank's unconstitutionality. Sitting on the Senate Finance Committee,
Sony VGN-NS30E keyboardhe voted for two censure resolutions against the President in March 1834.[30] By this time, Tyler was formally in line with Clay's newly formed Whig Party, which held control of the Senate.
Sony VGN-NS20M keyboardOn 3 March 1835, with only hours remaining in the congressional session, the Whigs voted him President pro tempore of the Senate as a symbolic gesture of approval.[31] He is the only U.S. President to have held this office. Sony VGN-NW20EF Keyboard
Shortly thereafter, the Democrats took control of the Virginia House of Delegates, and Tyler's seat in the Senate was threatened. That December, the legislature offered him a judgeship in exchange for resigning his seat, Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard
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Sony VGN-NS20E/P keyboard but he declined. Tyler understood what was to come: he would soon be forced by the legislature to cast a vote that went against his constitutional beliefs. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri had repeatedly introduced a bill expunging the censure of Jackson from the record. With the support of Virginia's Democrats, Sony VGN-NW24JG Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS11J keyboard Tyler could be instructed to vote for the bill. If he disregarded the instructions, he would be violating his own principles: "the first act of my political life was a censure on Messrs.
Sony VGN-NS10L keyboard Giles and Brent for opposition to instructions," he noted. Over the next few months he sought the counsel of his friends, who gave him conflicting advice. By mid-February he felt that his Senate career was likely at an end. He issued a letter of resignation to the Vice-President on 29 February 1836, saying in part:[32] Sony VGN-NW24MG Keyboard
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I shall carry with me into retirement the principles which I brought with me into public life, and by the surrender of the high station to which I was called by the voice of the people of Virginia, I shall set an example to my children which shall teach them to regard as nothing place and office, when either is to be attained or held at the sacrifice of honor. Sony VGN-NW24MR Keyboard
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Presidential election, 1836 [edit]
See also: United States presidential election, 1836
While Tyler wished to attend to his private life and family, he was soon swept up in the presidential election of 1836. He had been suggested as a Vice Presidential candidate since early 1835, and the same day the Virginia Democrats issued the expunging instruction,
Sony VGN-NW31ZF/S Keyboard the Virginia Whigs nominated him as their candidate. The new Whig Party was not organized enough to hold a national convention and name a single ticket against Jackson's chosen successor, Martin Van Buren. Instead, Whigs in various regions each put forth their own preferred ticket,
Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard reflecting the party's tenuous coalition: the Massachusetts Whigs nominated Daniel Webster and Francis Granger, the Anti-Masons of the Northern and border states backed William Henry Harrison and Granger, and the states' rights advocates of the middle and lower South nominated Hugh Lawson White and John Tyler. Tyler, despite his strong following in the Virginia and Ohio conventions, Sony VGN-NW26JG Keyboard
only received 47 electoral votes in the November 1836 election, trailing both Granger and the Democratic candidate, Richard Mentor Johnson. Harrison was the leading Whig candidate for president, but he lost to van Buren.[33] Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard
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Later state politics [edit]
Tyler had been drawn into Virginia politics even as a U.S. Senator. From October 1829 to January 1830, he served as a member of the state constitutional convention, a role which he was reluctant to accept. Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard
The original Virginia Constitution gave outsize influence to the state's more conservative eastern counties, as it allocated an equal number of legislators to each county (regardless of population) and only granted suffrage to property owners. Sony VPCF11C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13E4E Keyboard The convention gave the more populous and liberal counties of western Virginia an opportunity to expand their influence. Tyler, a slave-owner from eastern Virginia, supported the existing system. Sony VPCF11D4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF12M1E/H Keyboard He largely remained on the sidelines during the debate, however, not wishing to alienate any of the state's political factions. He was focused on his Senate career, which required a broad base of support, and gave speeches during the convention promoting compromise and unity.[34] Sony VPC-F11M1E/H Keyboard
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After the 1836 election, Tyler thought his political career was at an end, and planned to return to private law practice. In the fall of 1837 a friend sold him a sizable property in Williamsburg. He had barely settled in,
Sony VPCF12E1E/H Keyboardhowever, when he was again elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He took office in 1838 and his peers unanimously elected him Speaker. Tyler was a national political figure by this point, and his third delegate service touched on such national issues as disposal of public lands.[35]
In February 1839, the legislature again considered a U.S. Senate election, this time the seat of incumbent William Cabell Rives, a Conservative Democrat who had succeeded Tyler. Rives had drifted away from his party, Sony VPCF11S1E/B Keyboard
signalling a possible alliance with the Whigs. As Tyler had already fully rejected his party, he expected the Whigs would consider him as a candidate instead. Still, the Whigs found Rives a more politically expedient choice, Sony VPC-F2 Keyboard
Sony VPCF11Z1E/BI Keyboardas they hoped to draw a useful coalition with the Conservative Democrats for the 1840 presidential election. This strategy was espoused by Whig leader Henry Clay, who otherwise admired Tyler.[ Sony VPCF22L1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11S1E Keyboardf] Tyler was turned down for the nomination, while in-party squabbles delayed Rives' re-election until January 1841.[36] Sony VPC-F21Z1E Keyboard
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Presidential election, 1840 [edit]
See also: United States presidential election, 1840
At the Whig convention of 1840, Tyler supported Henry Clay for Presidential candidacy. After Clay had been passed over in favor of William Henry Harrison, Tyler was named Harrison's running mate.
Sony VPCF24M1E Keyboard Although this was ostensibly to balance the ticket by placing the Virginian, Tyler, with Harrison, who now resided in Ohio, Harrison originally came from a plantation along the same stretch of road in Charles City County, Virginia as Tyler. Sony VPCF22M1E Keyboard
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The union of the Whigs in this year was a coalition of diverse elements joined to defeat their common opponent, the Democratic incumbent Martin Van Buren. This combination included both southern states' rights men such as Tyler, who had long opposed a national bank and unrestricted federal power, Sony VPCF22S1E Keyboard
and economic nationalists such as Clay, whose "American system" called for a national bank, protective tariff, and federally financed internal improvements. To win the election, these differences were downplayed, Sony VPCF22S8E Keyboard
Sony VPCF231S1E Keyboardin favor of portraying Harrison as hardy western frontiersman and Van Buren as an effete easterner. The Whig slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" – among the most famous in American politics. Sony VPCF23M1E Keyboard
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But these differences reappeared later, dividing Tyler and the Whig Party after he succeeded Harrison as President.
Harrison and Tyler won the election by an electoral vote of 234–60 and a popular vote of 53 percent to 47 percent, and the Whigs gained control of both houses of Congress. Sony VPCF13E8E Keyboard
Vice-presidency, 1841 [edit]
See also: Presidency of William Henry Harrison
1888 illustration of Vice President Tyler receiving the news of President Harrison's death from Chief Clerk of the State Department Fletcher Webster.
Tyler was sworn in on March 4, 1841, in the Senate chamber, and delivered a three-minute bromide about states' rights before swearing in the new senators and attending with them to President Harrison's inauguration.
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Following the ceremony, the Vice President returned to the Senate to receive the president's cabinet appointments, returning the following day to preside over their confirmations — a total of two hours as President of the Senate. Expecting few responsibilities, he then left Washington, quietly repairing to his home in Williamsburg.[3Sony VPCF13Z8E Keyboard
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Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard] Historian Robert Seager II later wrote, "Had William Henry Harrison lived, John Tyler would undoubtedly have been as obscure as any Vice-President in American history."[38]
Harrison, meanwhile, struggled to keep up with the demands of Henry Clay and others who sought offices and influence in his administration. He did not seek Tyler's advice regarding appointments, 7Sony VPCF1318E/H Keyboard
Sony VPCF13M1E/B Keyboard and Tyler reportedly offered none, only hoping that it "be cast of the proper material" and avoid factionalism and patronage. Harrison's old age and fading health were no secret during the campaign, and the question of the presidential succession was on every politician's mind. Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard
The first few weeks of the presidency took a clear toll on Harrison's health, and after being caught in a rainstorm in late March he came down with pneumonia and pleurisy.[39]
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Secretary of State Daniel Webster sent word to Tyler of Harrison's illness on April 1; two days later, Richmond attorney James Lyons wrote with the news that the President had taken a turn for the worse, remarking that "I shall not be surprised to hear by tomorrow's mail that Gen'l Harrison is no more."[40]
Sony VPCF13Z0E/B Keyboard Tyler determined not to travel to Washington, not wanting to appear unseemly in anticipating the President's death. However, at dawn on April 5, two couriers (Webster's son Fletcher, Chief Clerk of the State Department, and Senate assistant doorkeeper Robert Beale)
Sony VPCF13M8E/B Keyboardarrived at Tyler's plantation with a letter from Webster, informing the Vice President of Harrison's death the morning before.
Presidency, 1841–1845 [edit]
"His Accidency" [edit]
Tyler as president, c.1841.
Harrison's unprecedented death in office caused considerable disarray regarding his successor. The Constitution of the United States stated only that:
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President.[41]
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This led to the question of whether the actual office of President "devolved" upon Vice President Tyler, or merely its powers and duties. By the time Tyler arrived in Washington at 4:00 a.m. on April 6, 1841,
Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboardhe had firmly resolved that he was now, in name and fact, the President of the United States, and acted on this determination by taking the oath of office in his hotel room. He considered the oath redundant to his oath as Vice President, but wished to quell any doubt over his accession.[4Sony VPCF13M1E/H Keyboard
Sony VPCF12Z1E Keyboard2] Immediately after his inauguration, Tyler called Harrison's cabinet into a meeting, having decided to retain its members. Webster informed him of Harrison's practice of making policy by a majority vote. Sony VPCF24Q1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13S1E/B Keyboard The cabinet fully expected the new President to continue this practice. Tyler was astounded and immediately corrected them: Sony VPCF21Z1E/BI Keyboard
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I beg your pardon, gentlemen; I am very glad to have in my Cabinet such able statesmen as you have proved yourselves to be. And I shall be pleased to avail myself of your counsel and advice. But I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as President, shall be responsible for my administration. Sony VPCF23P1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard I hope to have your hearty co-operation in carrying out its measures. So long as you see fit to do this, I shall be glad to have you with me. When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted.[43] Sony VPCY21S1E/G Keyboard
He delivered a de facto inaugural address on April 9 reasserting his fundamental tenets of Jeffersonian democracy and limited federal power. Tyler's claim was not immediately accepted by opposition members in Congress such as John Quincy Adams, who argued for Tyler to assume a role as a caretaker under the title of "Acting President", Sony VPCF23N1E Keyboard
Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard
or remain Vice President in name.[44] Among those who questioned Tyler's authority was Whig leader Henry Clay, who had intended to be "the real power behind a fumbling throne" and exercise considerable influence over Harrison, HP Pavilion DV7-1105EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-2215SA Batteryand who now transferred that ambition onto his close friend, Tyler. He saw Tyler as the "Vice-President" and his presidency as a mere "regency".[45]
On June 1, impressed by his authoritative actions, both houses of Congress passed resolutions declaring Tyler the 10th President of the United States. HP Pavilion DV7-1210EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3115EA BatteryTyler had thus become the first U.S. Vice President to assume the office of President upon the death of the incumbent, establishing a precedent that would be followed seven times in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet it was not until 1967 that Tyler's action of assuming both the full powers and the title of the presidency was legally codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.[46] HP Pavilion DV7-1135EA Battery
Although his accession was given approval by both the Cabinet and, later, the Senate and House, Tyler's detractors (who, ironically, would eventually include many of the Cabinet members and members of Congress who had legitimized his presidency) never fully accepted him as President. He was referred to by many nicknames, HP Pavilion DV7-1130EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3112EA Battery including "His Accidency," a reference to his having become President, not through election, but by the accidental circumstances regarding his nomination and Harrison's death. However, HP Pavilion DV7-1125EA Battery
Tyler never wavered from his conviction that he was the rightful President; when his political opponents sent correspondence to the White House addressed to the "Vice President" or "Acting President," Tyler had it returned unopened.[47] HP Pavilion DV7-1213EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3110EA Battery
Economic policy and party conflicts [edit]
Harrison had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and to work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Clay. When Tyler succeeded him, he at first was in accord with the new Whig Congress in signing into law such measures as a pre-emption bill granting "squatters' sovereignty" to settlers on public land, HP Pavilion DV7-1211EA Battery
a Distribution Act, discussed below, a new bankruptcy law, and the repeal of the Independent Treasury enacted under Van Buren. But when it came to the great banking question, the former Democratic President was at odds with the Congressional Whigs. HP Pavilion DV7-1212EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3105EA BatteryTwice he vetoed Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837. Although the second bill supposedly had been tailored to meet his stated objections in the first veto,
HP Pavilion DV7-3101SA Batteryits 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.
HP Pavilion DV7-3020EA BatteryTyler proposed an alternative fiscal plan to be known as the "Exchequer," but Clay's friends, who controlled the Congress, would have none of it.[48]
On September 11, 1841, following the second bank veto, HP Pavilion DV7-1214EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3001EA Batterymembers of the cabinet entered Tyler's office one by one and resigned – an orchestration by Clay to force Tyler's resignation (and place his own lieutenant, Senate President Pro Tempore Samuel L. Southard, in the White House). HP Pavilion DV7-2110SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3000 Battery The exception was Secretary of State Webster who remained to finalize what became the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, as well as to demonstrate his independence from Clay.[49] Two days later, when the President stood firm, the Whigs in Congress officially expelled Tyler from the party. HP Pavilion DV7-2120SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-2230SA BatteryA national backlash ensued, as Tyler was lambasted by Whig newspapers and received hundreds of letters threatening his assassination.[50]
Tariff and distribution debate [edit]
By mid-1841, the federal government faced a projected budget deficit of $11 million. Tyler recognized the need for higher tariffs, but wished to stay within the 20-percent rate created by the Compromise Tariff of 1833.
HP Pavilion DV7-4180SA Keyboard He also supported a plan to distribute to the states any revenue from the sales of public land, as an emergency measure to manage the states' growing debt, even though this would cut federal revenue. The Whigs supported high protectionist tariffs and national funding of state infrastructure,
HP Pavilion DV7-4150EA Battery and so there was enough overlap to forge a compromise. The Distribution Act of 1841 created a distribution program with a proviso requiring tariffs to remain below 20 percent;
HP Pavilion DV7-4144EA Battery a second bill enacted the top rate on previously low-tax goods. Despite these measures, by March 1842 it had become clear that the federal government was still in dire fiscal straits.
HP Pavilion DV7-4143EA BatteryIn a recommendation to Congress, Tyler lamented that it would be necessary to override the Compromise Tariff of 1833 and raise rates beyond the 20 percent limit. Under the previous deal, this would suspend the distribution program, reverting funds back to the federal government.[51]
HP Pavilion DV7-4141SA Battery
The defiant Whig Congress would not raise tariffs if it would affect the distribution of funds to states. In June 1842 they passed two bills that would raise tariffs and unconditionally extend the distribution program.
HP Pavilion DV7-4140EA BatteryBelieving it improper to continue distribution at a time when federal revenue shortage necessitated increasing the tariff, Tyler vetoed both bills, burning any remaining bridges between himself and the Whigs.[52HP Pavilion DV7-4020SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-4132EA Battery] His firm resolve finally prompted the Whig-controlled Congress to pass the Tariff of 1842, which he signed into law, increasing import duties without extending distribution.
HP Pavilion DV7-4131SA Battery
Impeachment attempt [edit]
Shortly after the tariff veto, Whigs in the House of Representatives initiated the first impeachment proceedings against a President in American history. This was not only a matter of the Whigs supporting the Bank and tariff legislation which Tyler vetoed. HP Pavilion DV7-4015SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-4130SA Battery Until the presidency of the Whigs' arch-enemy Andrew Jackson, Presidents vetoed bills rarely, and then generally on constitutional rather than policy grounds. So Tyler's actions also went against the Whigs' idea of the presidency.[53] John Minor Botts of Virginia,
HP Pavilion DV7-4045SA Battery who had been Tyler's greatest reviler, 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. Clay found this measure prematurely aggressive, HP Pavilion DV7-4035SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-4040SA Batteryfavoring a more moderate progression toward Tyler's "inevitable" impeachment. The Botts bill was tabled until the following January, when it was rejected, 127-83.[54]
A House select committee headed by former President John Quincy Adams, who was now a member of Congress, condemned Tyler's use of the veto and assailed his character. Adams, an ardent abolitionist, Sony VPCSA2Z9E Battery
disliked the President for being a slaveholder. While the committee's report did not formally recommend impeachment, it clearly established 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.[5Sony VPCSA3M9E Battery
5] 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 (although they retained a majority in the Senate). Sony VPCSA3N9E Battery
Sony VPCSE2S1E BatteryNear 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.[56] Sony VPCSA3S9E Battery
For two years, Tyler struggled with the Whigs, eventually nominating 19 men to the six cabinet offices. When he nominated John C. Calhoun in 1844 as Secretary of State, to reform the Democrats, the gravitational swing of the Whigs to identify with "the North" and the Democrats as the party of "the South" led the way to the sectional party politics of the next decade.
Sony VPCSE2L9E Battery Tyler's final Cabinet consisted of five Southerners and one Northerner (William Wilkins, Secretary of War).
Four of Tyler's Cabinet nominees were rejected, the most of any president. These were Caleb Cushing (Treasury), David Henshaw (Navy) James Porter (War), and James S. Green (Treasury).
Sony VPCSE2J9E BatteryHenshaw and Porter served as recess appointees before their rejections. Tyler aggravated this problem when he repeatedly renominated Cushing. As a result, Cushing was rejected three times in one day, March 4, 1843, the last day of the 27th Congress.[58] Sony VPCSA3X9E Battery
Foreign and military affairs [edit]
Tyler's difficulties in domestic policy were matched by adept accomplishments in foreign policy. He had long been an advocate of expansionism toward the Pacific and free trade, and was fond of evoking themes of national destiny and the spread of liberty in support of these policies.[59Sony VPCSA3Z9E Battery
Sony VPCSE1Z9E Battery] His presidency was largely continuous with Jackson's earlier efforts to promote American commerce across the Pacific.[60] Eager to compete with Great Britain in international markets, he sent lawyer Caleb Cushing to China, where he negotiated the terms of the Treaty of Wanghia (1844).[61Sony VPCSA4W9E Battery
Sony VPCSE1V9E Battery] The same year, he sent Henry Wheaton as a minister to Berlin, where he negotiated and signed a trade agreement with the German Zollverein. This treaty was rejected by the Whigs, mainly as a show of hostility toward the Tyler administration. The President also applied the Monroe Doctrine to Hawaii, Sony VPCSB Battery
Sony VPCSE1L1E Battery told Britain not to interfere there, and began the process towards the eventual annexation of Hawaii by the United States.[62] Sony VPCSB1A7E Battery
In 1842, the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, negotiated the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain which concluded where the border between Maine and Canada lay. The issue of where the border lay had caused tension between the United States and Britain for a notable amount of time and had brought the two countries to the brink of war on several occasions.
Sony VPCSE1E1E BatteryThe treaty improved Anglo-American diplomatic relations.[63] However, Tyler was unsuccessful in concluding a treaty with the British to fix the boundaries of Oregon.[64] On Tyler's last full day in office, March 3, 1845, Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th state.[65] Sony VPCSB1A9E Battery
Tyler advocated an increase in military strength. His administration drew the praise of naval leaders, who saw a marked increase in naval warships. Tyler brought the long, bloody Second Seminole War to an end in 1842, Sony VPCSB1B7E Battery
and expressed interest in the civilizing, so to speak, of the Native Americans.[66] He also advocated the establishment of a chain of American forts from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the Pacific.[67]
In May 1842, when the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island came to a head, Tyler pondered the request of the governor and legislature to send federal troops to help it suppress the Dorrite insurgents. The insurgents under Thomas Dorr had armed themselves and proposed to install a new state constitution.
Sony VPCSB3N9E BatteryBefore such acts, Rhode Island had been following the same constitutional structure that was established in 1663. Tyler called for calm on both sides, and recommended the governor enlarge the franchise to let most men vote. Sony VPCSB1B9E Battery
Sony VPCSB2M9E BatteryTyler promised that in case an actual insurrection should break out in Rhode Island he would employ force to aid the regular, or Charter, government. He made it clear that federal assistance would be given,
Sony VPCSB1Z9E Batterynot to prevent, but only to put down insurrection, and would not be available until violence had been committed. After listening to reports from his confidential agents, Tyler decided that the 'lawless assemblages' had dispersed and expressed his confidence in a "temper of conciliation as well as of energy and decision." Sony VPCSB1C7E Battery
Sony VPCSB1X9E BatteryHe did not send any federal forces. The rebels fled the state when the state militia marched against them.[68] With their dispersion, they accepted the expansion of suffrage.
Two vacancies occurred on the Supreme Court during Tyler's presidency, as Justices Smith Thompson and Henry Baldwin died in 1843 and 1844, respectively. Tyler, ever at odds with Congress – including the Whig-controlled Senate – nominated several men to the Supreme Court to fill these seats. However,
Sony VPCSB1V9E Battery the Senate successively voted against confirming John Canfield Spencer, Reuben Walworth, Edward King and John M. Read (King was rejected twice). One reason cited for the Senate's actions was the hope that Whig Henry Clay would fill the vacancies after winning the 1844 presidential election.[5Sony VPCSB1D7E Battery
8] Tyler's four unsuccessful nominees are the most by a president.[69]
Finally, in February 1845, with less than a month remaining in his term, Tyler's nomination of Samuel Nelson to Thompson's seat was confirmed by the Senate. Nelson's successful confirmation was a surprise.
Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Keyboard Nelson, although a Democrat, had a reputation as a careful and noncontroversial jurist. Baldwin's seat remained vacant until Polk's nominee, Robert Grier, was confirmed in 1846.[69]
Tyler was able to appoint only six other federal judges, all to United States district courts.[70]
Annexation of Texas [edit]
See also: Annexation of Texas
Tyler, an advocate of Western expansionism, made the annexation of the Republic of Texas part of his platform soon after becoming President. Texas had declared independence from Mexico in the Texas Revolution of 1836,
Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Keyboard although Mexico still refused to acknowledge it as a sovereign state. The people of Texas actively pursued joining the Union, but Jackson and Van Buren had been reluctant to inflame tensions over slavery by annexing another Southern state. Dell Latitude E4310 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6430 Keyboard Tyler, on the other hand, intended annexation to be the focal point of his administration. Secretary Webster, opposed, convinced Tyler to focus on Pacific initiatives until later in his term.[71]
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Keyboard
The boundaries of the United States and neighboring nations as they appeared in 1843. The Webster–Ashburton Treaty had formalized the border of Maine in the northeast, while the Republic of Texas in the southwest had a disputed border with Mexico. Tyler shared the Texans' desire for annexation, but it took several years of political wrangling to achieve. Dell Latitude E4320 Keyboard
Early attempts [edit]
In early 1843, having completed the Webster–Ashburton treaty and other diplomatic efforts, Tyler felt ready to pursue Texas. Now lacking a party base, he saw annexation of the republic as his only pathway to independent re-election in 1844. For the first time in his career he was willing to play "political hardball" to see it through.
Dell Latitude E6230 Keyboard As a trial balloon he dispatched his ally Thomas Walker Gilmer, then a U.S. Representative from Virginia, to publish a letter defending annexation, which was well received. Despite his successful relationship with Webster, Tyler knew he would need a Secretary of State who supported the Texas initiative, Dell Latitude E4200 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6220 Keyboard and so he forced Webster's resignation and installed Hugh S. Legaré of South Carolina as an interim successor.[72]
With the help of newly appointed Treasury Secretary John C. Spencer, he cleared out an array of officeholders,
Dell Latitude E6120 Keyboard replacing them with pro-annexation partisans, in a reversal of his former stand against patronage. He elicited the help of political organizer Michael Walsh to build a political machine in New York. Dell Latitude E4300 Keyboard
In exchange for an appointment as consul to Hawaii, journalist Alexander G. Abell wrote a flattering biography, Life of John Tyler, which was printed in large quantities and given to postmasters throughout the country to distribute.[73Dell Latitude E5400 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E5530 Keyboard ] Seeking to rehabilitate his public image, Tyler embarked on a nationwide campaign tour in the spring of 1843. The positive reception of the public at these events contrasted starkly with his ostracism back in Washington. Dell Latitude E5410 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6520 Keyboard The tour centered around the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after the dedication, Tyler learned of Legaré's sudden death, which dampened the festivities and forced him to cancel the rest of the tour.[74] Dell Latitude E5500 Keyboard
He appointed Abel P. Upshur, a popular Secretary of the Navy and close adviser, as his new Secretary of State, and nominated Gilmer to fill his former office. Tyler and Upshur began quiet negotiations with the Texas government, promising military protection from Mexico in exchange for a commitment to annexation. Secrecy was necessary,
Dell Latitude E6420 Keyboard as the Constitution required Congressional approval for such military commitments. Upshur planted rumors of possible British designs on Texas to drum up support among Northern voters,
Dell Latitude E5520 Keyboard who were wary of admitting a new pro-slavery state.[75] By January 1844 Upshur told the Texas government that he had found a large majority of Senators in favor of an annexation treaty. The republic remained skeptical, and finalization of the treaty took until the end of February.[76] Dell Latitude E5510 Keyboard
USS Princeton disaster [edit]
See also: USS Princeton Disaster of 1844
A lithograph of the Princeton disaster (1844).
It was only one day after completing the treaty that Upshur and Gilmer were killed in an accident. A ceremonial cruise down the Potomac River was held aboard the newly built USS Princeton on February 28, 1844. Aboard the ship were 400 guests, including Tyler and his cabinet, as was the world's largest naval gun, the "Peacemaker".Dell Latitude E6520N Keyboard
Dell Precision M4400 Keyboard The gun was ceremonially fired several times in the afternoon to the great delight of the onlookers, who then filed downstairs to offer a toast. Several hours later, Captain Robert F. Stockton was convinced by the crowd to fire one more shot. As the guests moved up to the deck, Tyler paused briefly to watch his son-in-law, William Waller, sing a ditty.[77]
At once an explosion was heard from above: the gun had malfunctioned. Tyler was unhurt, having remained safely below deck, but a number of others were killed instantly, including his crucial cabinet members,
Dell Precision M6400 Keyboard Gilmer and Upshur. Also killed or mortally wounded were Virgil Maxcy of Maryland, Rep. David Gardiner of New York, Commodore Beverly Kennon, Chief of Construction of the United States Navy and Tyler's black slave and body servant.[ Dell Latitude E5220 Keyboard
Dell Precision M4500 Keyboard 77] The death of David Gardiner had a devastating effect on Gardiner's daughter, Julia, who fainted and was carried to safety by the President himself. Julia later recovered from her grief and married President Tyler.
For Tyler, any hope of completing the Texas plan before November (and with it, any hope of re-election) was instantly dashed. Historian Edward P. Crapol later wrote that "Prior to the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln," the Princeton disaster "unquestionably was the most severe and debilitating tragedy ever to confront a President of the United States."[76]
Ratification and 1844 election [edit]
An anti-Tyler satire lampoons his efforts to secure a second term. Tyler pushes the door shut on opponents Clay, Polk, Calhoun, and Jackson, as Uncle Sam demands that he let Clay in.
In what the Miller Center of Public Affairs considers "a serious tactical error that ruined the scheme [of establishing political respectability for him]",[78Dell Latitude E5420M Keyboard
Dell Precision M2400 Keyboard ] Tyler appointed former Vice President John C. Calhoun in early March 1844 as his Secretary of State. Tyler's good friend, Virginia Representative Henry A. Wise, wrote that following the Princeton disaster, Dell Latitude E6400 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E5430 Keyboard he went on his own to extend Calhoun the position through a colleague, who assumed that the offer came from the president. When Wise went to tell Tyler what he had done, the President was angry but felt that the action now had to stand. Calhoun was a leading advocate of slavery,
Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Keyboard and his attempts to get an annexation treaty passed were resisted by abolitionists as a result. When the text of the treaty was leaked to the public, it met political opposition from the Whigs, who would oppose anything that might enhance Tyler's status, as well as from foes of slavery and those who feared a confrontation with Mexico, Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6410 Keyboard which had announced that it would view annexation as a hostile act by the United States. Both Clay and Van Buren, the respective frontrunners for the Whig and Democratic nominations, decided in a private meeting at Van Buren's home to come out against annexation.[7
Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Keyboard Tyler sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification, accompanied by a message that extolled the benefits of annexation to the country and contained no mention of slavery. 9] Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Keyboard
Following Tyler's break with the Whigs in 1841, he had begun to shift back to his old Democratic party, but its members, especially the followers of Van Buren, were not ready to receive him. He knew that with little chance of election, Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
x
the only way to salvage his presidency and legacy was to move public opinion in favor of the Texas issue. He formed a third party, the Democratic-Republicans, using the officeholders and political networks he had built over the previous year. A chain of pro-Tyler newspapers across the country put out editorials promoting his candidacy throughout the early months of 1844.
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Reports of Tyler meetings held throughout the country suggest that support for the President was not limited to officeholders, as is often inferred. The Tyler supporters, holding signs reading "Tyler and Texas!", Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430 Battery held their nominating convention in Baltimore in May 1844, just as the Democratic Party was holding its presidential nomination. With their high visibility and energy they were able to force the Democrats' hand in favor of annexation. Ballot after ballot, Van Buren failed to win the necessary super-majority of Democratic votes, Dell Latitude E4320 Battery
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Batteryand slowly fell in the ranking. It was not until the ninth ballot that the Democrats discovered an obscure pro-annexation candidate named James K. Polk. They found him to be perfectly suited for their platform, Dell Latitude E4300 Battery
Dell Latitude E6230 Batteryand he was nominated with two-thirds of the vote. Tyler considered his work vindicated, and implied in an acceptance letter that annexation was his true priority rather than election.[80] Dell Latitude E4200 Battery
Tyler was unfazed when the Whig-controlled Senate rejected his treaty by a vote of 16–35 in June 1844, as he felt that annexation was now within reach. He called for Congress to annex Texas by joint resolution rather than by treaty. Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
Dell Latitude E6220 Battery Former President Andrew Jackson, a staunch supporter of annexation, persuaded Polk to welcome Tyler back into the Democratic party and ordered Democratic editors to cease their attacks on him. Satisfied by these developments, Tyler dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Polk for the presidency. Dell Latitude E5410 Battery
Dell Latitude E6120 BatteryPolk's narrow victory over Clay in the November election was seen by the Tyler administration as a mandate for completing the resolution. Tyler announced in his annual message to Congress that "a controlling majority of the people and a large majority of the states have declared in favor of immediate annexation."[8Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
Dell Latitude E5530 Battery1] In late February 1845, the House by a substantial margin and the Senate by a bare 27–25 majority approved a joint resolution offering terms of annexation to Texas. On March 1, three days before the end of his term, Tyler signed the bill into law.[82Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6420 Battery] After some debate,[83] Texas accepted the terms and entered the union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state.
Post-presidency and death [edit]
Tyler retired to a Virginia plantation, originally named Walnut Grove (or "the Grove"), located on the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. He renamed it Sherwood Forest, in a reference to the folk legend Robin Hood, Dell Latitude E5420 Battery
Dell Latitude E5520 Battery to signify that he had been "outlawed" by the Whig Party.[84] He did not take farming lightly and worked hard to maintain large yields throughout the 1840s.[85] His neighbors, largely Whigs, appointed him "overseer" of his road in 1847 in an effort to mock him. To their displeasure he treated the title seriously, Dell Latitude E6430S Battery
frequently summoning his neighbors' slaves to attend to road work, and continued to bear the title even after his neighbors asked him to stop.[86] He withdrew from electoral politics, rarely receiving visits from his friends. He was asked to give an occasional public speech, but was not sought out as an adviser.
Dell Precision M4400 Battery One notable speech was at the unveiling of a monument to Henry Clay; acknowledging the political battles between the two, he spoke highly of his former colleague, whom he had always admired for bringing about the Compromise Tariff of 1833.[87]
Tyler's grave at Hollywood Cemetery.
On the eve of the Civil War, Tyler re-entered public life as sponsor and chairman of the Virginia Peace Convention, held in Washington, D.C., in February 1861 as an effort to devise means to prevent a war.
Dell Precision M6400 BatteryThe convention sought a compromise to avoid civil war while the Confederate Constitution was being drawn up at the Montgomery Convention. When the convention's proposals were rejected by Congress, Tyler abandoned hope of compromise and saw secession as the only option. Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Battery
Dell Precision M4500 Battery He was sanguine about a peaceful secession, predicting that a clean split of all Southern states would not result in war.[88] When war ultimately broke out, Tyler unhesitatingly sided with the Confederacy and became a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress from February 4, 1861. Dell Latitude E6520N Battery
Dell Precision M6600 Battery He was then elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress. On January 5, 1862, he left for Richmond, Virginia, in anticipation of his congressional service, but he would not live to see the opening sessions.[89] Dell Latitude E6530 Battery
Throughout Tyler's life, he suffered from poor health. As he aged, he suffered more frequently from colds during the winter. After his exit from the White House, he fell victim to repeated cases of dysentery. He had many aches and pains in the last eight years of his life. On January 12, 1862, after complaining of chills and dizziness, Dell Latitude E5220 Battery
Dell Precision M4600 Battery he vomited and collapsed. He was revived, yet the next day he admitted to the same symptoms. He was treated for the rest of the week, but his health did not improve, and he made plans to return to Sherwood Forest on the 18th. Dell Latitude E5420M Battery
As he lay in bed the previous night he began suffocating, and Julia summoned his doctor. Just after midnight, Tyler took a last sip of brandy, and told his doctor, "I am going. Perhaps it is best."[90
Dell Precision M2400 Battery] It is believed that he had suffered a stroke.[91] Tyler is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, in front of the gravesite of former President James Monroe, the black structure visible in the illustration behind the left side of Tyler's obelisk.[92]
Tyler's death was the only one in presidential history not to be officially recognized in Washington, because of his allegiance to the Confederacy. He had requested a simple burial, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his fellows delivered a grand, politically pointed funeral, painting Tyler as a hero to the Confederacy. Dell Latitude E6400 Battery
Accordingly, the coffin of the tenth president of the United States was draped at the funeral with a Confederate flag.[92] Tyler's favorite horse named "The General" is buried at his Sherwood Forest Plantation with a gravestone which reads,[93] Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Battery
Early in his presidency, Tyler was attacked by abolitionist publisher Joshua Leavitt, who alleged that Tyler had fathered (and sold) several sons with his slaves, prompting a response from the Tyler administration–linked newspaper The Madisonian. Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery
Dell Latitude E6410-ATG BatteryA number of African American families today have an oral tradition of descent from Tyler, but no evidence of such a link has ever surfaced.[97]
As of January 2012, Tyler has two living grandsons through his son Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr., was born in 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928. Harrison Tyler maintains the family home, "Sherwood Forest."[98][ Dell XPS 14 Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010 battery99] Tyler is the oldest former President with living grandchildren, and none of the succeeding Presidents have living grandchildren until James A. Garfield, who served forty years after Tyler,[100] with Abraham Lincoln and lifelong bachelor James Buchanan each having no living descendants of any kind. Dell XPS 14D Battery
Legacy [edit]
Portrait of John Tyler, by George Peter Alexander Healy created between 1859–1864; currently hanging in the Blue Room.
A welcome sign in the city of Tyler, Texas, named in recognition of his work to annex the state.[101] Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery
John Tyler was featured on a U.S. postage stamp, Issue of 1938.
The Tyler presidency is generally held in low esteem by historians. Edward P. Crapol began his biography John Tyler, the Accidental President (2006) by noting: "Other biographers and historians have argued that John Tyler was a hapless and inept chief executive whose presidency was seriously flawed." In The Republican Vision of John Tyler (2003), Dell XPS 15 Battery
Dan Monroe observed that the Tyler presidency "is generally ranked as one of the least successful". Robert Seager II wrote in And Tyler Too: A Biography of John and Julia Gardiner Tyler (1963) that Tyler "was neither a great President nor a great intellectual," adding that despite a few achievements, "his administration has been and must be counted an unsuccessful one by any modern measure of accomplishment".[Dell XPS 15D Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010 battery1] A survey of 65 historians, conducted by C-SPAN in 2009, ranked Tyler as 35th of 42 men to hold the office.[102]
Some have argued that Tyler's accomplishments and political resolve warrant a more favorable treatment. Tyler's assumption of complete presidential powers "set a hugely important precedent", according to a biographical sketch by the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Dell Inspiron N3010 batteryThe article also noted that "Tyler could claim an ambitious, successful foreign policy presidency, due largely to the efforts of Secretary of State Webster." Monroe credits Tyler with "achievements like the Webster–Ashburton treaty which heralded the prospect of improved relations with Great Britain, and the annexation of Texas, which added millions of acres to the national domain." Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
Crapol argued that Tyler "was a stronger and more effective President than generally remembered," while Seager wrote, "I find him to be a courageous, principled man, a fair and honest fighter for his beliefs. He was a President without a party."[ Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Dell Inspiron N3010R battery1] The book Recarving Rushmore (2009), which rated Presidents in terms of peace, prosperity, and liberty, ranked John Tyler as the best President of all time.[103] At three years, 11 months, Tyler served the longest tenure of any President who was never elected to the office.
Tyler has been the namesake of several U.S. locations, including the city of Tyler, Texas and one of its schools, John Tyler High School,[101] along with John Tyler Community College in Virginia, located near Tyler's home.[10Dell XPS 15Z Battery
Dell Inspiron N5030 battery4] While academics have both praised and criticized Tyler, the general American public has little awareness of him at all. Several writers have noted that Tyler is among the nation's most obscure presidents. As Seager remarked, "His countrymen generally remember him, if they have heard of him at all, as the rhyming end of a catchy campaign slogan."[1] Dell XPS 17 Battery
James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th President of the United States (1845–1849). Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.[1] He later lived in and represented Tennessee. Dell XPS L702X Battery
Dell Inspiron N5110 battery A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and Governor of Tennessee (1839–1841). Polk was the surprise (dark horse) candidate for president in 1844, defeating Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party by promising to annex Texas. Polk was a leader of Jacksonian Democracy during the Second Party System. Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
Polk was the last strong pre–Civil War president, and he is the earliest of whom there are surviving photographs taken during a term in office. He is noted for his foreign policy successes. He threatened war with Britain over the issue of which nation owned the Oregon Country,
Dell Inspiron N7010R batterythen backed away and split the ownership of the region with Britain. When Mexico rejected American annexation of Texas, Polk led the nation to a sweeping victory in the Mexican-American War,
Dell Inspiron N7110 batterywhich gave the United States most of its present Southwest. He secured passage of the Walker tariff of 1846, which had low rates that pleased his native South, and he established a treasury system that lasted until 1913. Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery
Polk oversaw the opening of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Smithsonian Institution, the groundbreaking for the Washington Monument, and the issuance of the first postage stamps in the United States. He promised to serve only one term and did not run for reelection. He died of cholera three months after his term ended. Dell XPS L501X Battery
Scholars have ranked him favorably on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda and achieve all of it. Polk has been called the "least known consequential president"[2] of the United States.
James Knox Polk, the first of ten children, was born on November 2, 1795 in a farmhouse (possibly a "log" cabin)[1] in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County, just outside Charlotte.[3] Dell XPS L502X Battery
Dell XPS L701X Battery His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and surveyor of Scots-Irish descent. His mother, Jane Polk (née Knox), was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. She named her firstborn after her father James Knox.[3] Like most early Scots-Irish settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were Presbyterian.
Dell Inspiron 14R battery While Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, Samuel (whose father, Ezekiel Polk, was a deist) rejected dogmatic Presbyterianism. When the parents took James to church to be baptized, the father Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child.[3Dell Inspiron 17R battery
Dell Inspiron 13R battery][4] In 1803, most of Polk's relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee; Polk's family waited until 1806 to follow.[5] The family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk turning to land speculation and becoming a county judge.[5]
Polk was home schooled.[5] His health was problematic and in 1812 his pain became so unbearable that he was taken to Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky, who operated to remove urinary stones. Dell Inspiron 15R battery
Dell Inspiron N5010D battery [6] Polk was awake during the operation with nothing but brandy available for anesthetic, but it was successful. The surgery may have left Polk sterile, as he did not sire any children.[7]
The house where Polk spent his adult life before his presidency, in Columbia, Tennessee, is his only private residence still standing.
When Polk recovered, his father offered to bring him into the mercantile business, but Polk refused.[6
HP Pavilion DV6-6B60EA Battery ] In July 1813, Polk enrolled at the Zion Church near his home. A year later he attended an academy in Murfreesboro, where he may have met his future wife, Sarah Childress.[8] At Murfreesboro, Polk proved a promising student. In January 1816, HP Pavilion dv6-6000 Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B59EA Battery he transferred and was admitted into the University of North Carolina as a second-semester sophomore. The Polks had connections with the university, then a small school of about 80 students: Sam Polk was their land agent for Tennessee, and his cousin, William Polk, was a trustee.[ HP Pavilion DV6-6B06SA Battery
9] While there, Polk joined the Dialectic Society where he regularly took part in debates and learned the art of oratory. His roommate William Dunn Moseley later became the first governor of Florida. Polk graduated with honors in May 1818.[10] The University later named the lower quad on its main campus, Polk Place.[11] HP Pavilion DV6-6B08SA Battery
After graduation, Polk traveled to Nashville to study law under renowned Nashville trial attorney Felix Grundy.[12] Grundy became Polk's first mentor. On September 20, 1819, Polk, with Grundy's endorsement, was elected clerk for the Tennessee State Senate.[1HP Pavilion DV6-6B09SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B55EA Battery 3] Polk was reelected as clerk in 1821 without opposition, and would continue to serve until 1822. Polk was admitted to the bar in June 1820 and his first case was to defend his father against a public fighting charge, and secure his release for a one dollar fine.[13] Polk's practice was successful as there were many cases arising from debts after the Panic of 1819.[14] HP Pavilion DV6-6B26SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B51EA Battery
Early political career
In 1822 Polk joined the local militia and rose to the rank of captain, and was soon promoted to colonel.[15] Polk's oratory became popular, earning him the nickname "Napoleon of the Stump." In 1822 Polk resigned his position as clerk to run his successful campaign for the Tennessee state legislature in 1823,
HP Pavilion DV6-6B50EA Battery in which he defeated incumbent William Yancey, becoming the new representative of Maury County.[15][16] In October 1823 Polk voted for Andrew Jackson to become the next United States Senator from Tennessee.[17] Jackson won and from then on Polk was a firm supporter of Jackson.[18] HP Pavilion DV6-6B50SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B07EA Battery
James K. Polk and Sarah Childress Polk.
Polk courted Sarah Childress, and they married on January 1, 1824.[16] Polk was then 28, and Sarah was 20 years old. They had no children. During Polk's political career, Sarah assisted her husband with his speeches,
HP Pavilion DV6-6052SA Battery gave him advice on policy matters and played an active role in his campaigns. An old story told that Andrew Jackson had encouraged their romance when they began to court.[19]
HP Pavilion DV6-6004EA Battery
In 1824, Jackson ran for President but was defeated.[20] Though Jackson had won the popular vote, neither he nor any of the other candidates (John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford) had won a majority of the electoral vote. The House of Representatives then had to select the verdict; Clay,
HP Pavilion DV6-6002SA Battery who had received the least amount of electoral votes and dropped from the ballot, supported Adams.[20] Clay's support proved to be the deciding factor in the House and Adams was elected President.[20] Adams then offered Clay a position in the Cabinet as Secretary of State.[20]
HP Pavilion DV6-6C75EA Battery
Presidential $1 Coin of Polk.
In 1825, Polk ran for the United States House of Representatives for the Tennessee's 6th congressional district.[21] Polk vigorously campaigned in the district. Polk was so active that Sarah began to worry about his health.[2
HP Pavilion DV6-6C57EA Battery 1] During the campaign, Polk's opponents said that at the age of 29 Polk was too young for a spot in the House, but he won the election and took his seat in Congress.[21] When Polk arrived in Washington, D.C. he roomed in Benjamin Burch's boarding house with some other Tennessee representatives, including Samuel Houston. Polk made his first major speech on March 13, 1826, HP Pavilion DV6-6B51SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C56EA Battery in which he said that the Electoral College should be abolished and that the President should be elected by the popular vote.[22] After Congress went into recess in the summer of 1826, Polk returned to Tennessee to see Sarah, HP Pavilion DV6-6B57SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B58SA Battery
and when Congress met again in the autumn, Polk returned to Washington with Sarah. In 1827 Polk was reelected to Congress.[23] In 1828, Jackson ran for President again and during the campaign Polk and Jackson corresponded, with Polk giving Jackson advice on his campaign. HP Pavilion DV6-6C11EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C12EA Battery With Jackson's victory in the election Polk began to support the administration's position in Congress.[24] During this time, Polk continued to be reelected in the House. In August 1833, after being elected to this fifth term, Polk became the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.[25] HP Pavilion DV6-6C01EA Battery
Speaker of the Hous
e
In June 1834, Speaker of the House Andrew Stevenson resigned, leaving the spot for speaker open.[26] Polk ran against fellow Tennessean John Bell for Speaker, and, after ten ballots, Bell won. However, in 1835, Polk ran against Bell for Speaker again and won.[27] HP Pavilion DV6-6C01SA Battery
Polk worked for Jackson's policies as speaker, and Van Buren's when he succeeded Jackson in 1837; he appointed committees with Democratic chairs and majorities, including the New York radical C. C. Cambreleng as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, although he maintained the facade of traditional bipartisanship.[ HP Pavilion DV6-6C04SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C77SA Battery 28] The two major issues during Polk's speakership were slavery and the economy, after the Panic of 1837. Van Buren and Polk faced pressure to rescind the Specie Circular, an act that had been signed by Jackson to boost the economy. HP Pavilion DV6-6C04EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C75SA Battery The act required that payment for government lands be in gold and silver. However, with support from Polk and his cabinet, Van Buren chose to stick with the Specie Circular.[29]
HP Pavilion DV6-6C56SA Battery
Polk attempted to make a more orderly house. He never challenged anyone to a duel no matter how much they insulted his honor as was customary then.[30] Polk also issued the gag rule on petitions from abolitionists.[30]
Polk remains the only president who served as Speaker of the House.
Governor of Tennessee
HP Pavilion DV6-6C51SA Battery
In 1838, the political situation in Tennessee—where, in 1835, Democrats had lost the governorship for the first time in their party's history—persuaded Polk to return to help the party at home.[31]
HP Pavilion DV6-6C40SA Battery Leaving Congress in 1839, Polk became a candidate in the Tennessee gubernatorial election, defeating the incumbent Whig, Newton Cannon by about 2,500 votes, out of about 105,000.[32]
HP Pavilion DV6-6C41SA Battery
Polk's three major programs during his governorship; regulating state banks, implementing state internal improvements, and improving education all did not get approval by the legislature.[33] In the presidential election of 1840, HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Battery Van Buren was overwhelmingly defeated by a popular Whig, William Henry Harrison. Polk received one electoral vote from Tennessee for Vice President in the election.[3HP Pavilion DV6-6C05SA Battery
4] Polk lost his own reelection to James C. Jones, in 1841, by 3,243 votes.[35] He challenged Jones in 1843, campaigning across the state and publicly debating against Jones, but was defeated again, this time by a slightly greater margin of 3,833 votes.[36][37] HP Pavilion DV6-6C05EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Battery
Election of 1844
Results of the 1844 Presidential election
Main article: United States presidential election, 1844
Polk initially hoped to be nominated for vice president at the Democratic convention, which began on May 27, 1844. The leading contender for the presidential nomination was former President Martin Van Buren, HP Pavilion DV6-6000EA Battery
who wanted to stop the expansion of slavery. Other candidates included James Buchanan, General Lewis Cass, Cave Johnson, John C. Calhoun, and Levi Woodbury. The primary point of political contention involved the Republic of Texas, HP Pavilion DV6-6001SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6156EA Battery which, after declaring independence from Mexico in 1836, had asked to join the United States, but was refused by Washington. Van Buren opposed the annexation but in doing so lost the support of many Democrats, HP Pavilion DV6-6005EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6155EA Battery including former President Andrew Jackson, who still had much influence. Van Buren won a simple majority on the convention's first ballot but did not attain the two-thirds supermajority required for nomination. HP Pavilion DV6-6006EA Battery
When it became clear after another six ballots that Van Buren would not win the required majority, Polk emerged as a "dark horse" candidate. After an indecisive eighth ballot, the convention unanimously nominated Polk. HP Pavilion DV6-6051EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6154EA Battery
Before the convention, Jackson told Polk that he was his favorite for the nomination of the Democratic Party. Even with this support, Polk instructed his managers at the convention to support Van Buren if he could win the nomination. HP Pavilion DV6-6053EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6153EA Battery This assured that if a deadlocked convention occurred, initial supporters of Van Buren would pick Polk as a compromise candidate for the Democrats. In the end, this is exactly what happened as a result of Polk's support of westward expansion.[38]
HP Pavilion DV6-6152EA Battery
When advised of his nomination, Polk replied: "It has been well observed that the office of President of the United States should neither be sought nor declined. I have never sought it, nor should I feel at liberty to decline it, HP Pavilion DV6-6055EA Battery
if conferred upon me by the voluntary suffrages of my fellow citizens." Because the Democratic Party was splintered into bitter factions, Polk promised to serve only one term if elected, hoping that his disappointed rival Democrats would unite behind him with the knowledge that another candidate would be chosen in four years.[39]
HP Pavilion DV6-6107SA Battery
1844 campaign banner, produced by Nathaniel Currier.
Polk's Whig opponent in the 1844 presidential election was Henry Clay of Kentucky. (Incumbent Whig President John Tyler—a former Democrat—had become estranged from the Whigs and was not nominated for a second term.) HP Pavilion DV6-6060SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6104EA Battery The annexation of Texas, which was at the forefront during the Democratic Convention, again dominated the campaign. Polk was a strong proponent of immediate annexation, while Clay seemed more equivocal and vacillating. HP Pavilion DV6-6077SA Battery
Another campaign issue, also related to westward expansion, involved the Oregon Country, then under the joint occupation of the United States and the United Kingdom. The Democrats had championed the cause of expansion, HP Pavilion DV6-6102SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6103SA Battery informally linking the controversial Texas annexation issue with a claim to the entire Oregon Country, thus appealing to both Northern and Southern expansionists. (The slogan "Fifty-four Forty or Fight," often incorrectly attributed to the 1844 election, did not appear until later; see Oregon boundary dispute.) Sony VPC EL series Keyboard
Sony PCG-71C11M KeyboardPolk's consistent support for westward expansion—what Democrats would later call "Manifest Destiny"—likely played an important role in his victory, as opponent Henry Clay hedged his position. Sony VPCEL3S1E Keyboard
In the election, Polk and his running mate, George M. Dallas, won in the South and West, while Clay drew support in the Northeast. Polk lost both his home state, North Carolina, and his state of residence, Tennessee,
Sony VPCEL2S1E Keyboardthe most recent successful presidential candidate to do so. but won New York, where Clay lost votes to the antislavery Liberty Party candidate James G. Birney. Also contributing to Polk's victory was the support of new immigrant voters, Sony VPCEL2S1E/B Keyboard
who opposed the Whigs' policies. Polk won the popular vote by a margin of about 39,000 out of 2.6 million, and took the Electoral College with 170 votes to Clay's 105.[40] Polk won 15 states, while Clay won 11.[41] Sony VPCEL2S1E/W Keyboard
Presidency (1845–1849)
This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2012)
Polk's presidential proclamation of war against Mexico.
When he took office on March 4, 1845, Polk, at 49, became the youngest man at the time to assume the presidency. According to a story told decades later by George Bancroft, Polk set four clearly defined goals for his administration: Sony VPCS11C5E Keyboard
Reestablish the Independent Treasury System.
Reduce tariffs.
Acquire some or all of Oregon Country.
Acquire California and New Mexico from Mexico.
Pledged to serve only one term, he accomplished all these objectives in just four years. By linking acquisition of new lands in Oregon (with no slavery) and Texas (with slavery), he hoped to satisfy both North and South. Sony VPCS11D7E Keyboard
During his presidency James K. Polk was known as "Young Hickory", an allusion to his mentor Andrew Jackson, and "Napoleon of the Stump" for his speaking skills.
Fiscal policy
In 1846, Congress approved the Walker Tariff (named after Robert J. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury), which represented a substantial reduction of the high Whig-backed Tariff of 1842. The new law abandoned ad valorem tariffs and set rates independent of the monetary value of the product. Polk's actions were popular in the South and West; however, they were despised by many protectionists in Pennsylvania. Sony VPCS11E7E Keyboard
In 1846, Polk approved a law restoring the Independent Treasury System, under which government funds were held in the Treasury and not in banks or other financial institutions. This established independent treasury deposit offices, separate from private or state banks, to receive all government funds. Sony VPCS11F7E Keyboard
Rivers and Harbors Veto
Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Bill in 1846 to provide $500,000 to improve rivers and harbors, but Polk vetoed the bill. It would have provided for federally funded internal improvements on small harbors. Sony VPCS11G7E Keyboard
Sony VPCS12E7E KeyboardPolk believed that this was unconstitutional because the bill unfairly favored particular areas, including ports which had no foreign trade. Polk believed that these problems were local and not national. Polk feared that passing the Rivers and Harbors Bill would encourage legislators to compete for favors for their home districts – a type of corruption that would spell doom to the virtue of the republic.[4Sony VPCS11J7E Keyboard
Sony VPCS12D7E Keyboard2] In this regard he followed his hero Andrew Jackson, who had vetoed the Maysville Road Bill in 1830 on similar grounds.[43] Sony VPCS11M1E/W Keyboard
Slavery
President Polk (d. 1849), 1858 portrait by George Healy
During his presidency, many abolitionists harshly criticized him as an instrument of the "Slave Power", and claimed that spreading slavery was the reason he supported annexing Texas and later war with Mexico.[
Sony VPCS12B7E Keyboard44] Polk stated in his diary that he believed slavery could not exist in the territories won from Mexico,[45] but refused to endorse the Wilmot Proviso that would forbid it there. Polk argued instead for extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean,
Sony VPCS12A7R Keyboardwhich would prohibit the expansion of slavery above 36° 30' west of Missouri, but allow it below that line if approved by eligible voters in the territory. William Dusinberre has argued that Polk's diary, which he kept during his presidency, was written for later publication, and does not represent Polk's policy. Sony VPCS11M9R/B Keyboard
Polk was a slaveholder for his entire life. His father, Samuel Polk, had left Polk more than 8,000 acres (32 km²) of land, and divided about 53 slaves to his widow and children after he died. James inherited twenty of his father's slaves, either directly or from deceased brothers. In 1831, he became an absentee cotton planter, Sony VPCEB1B4E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2S1R Keyboard sending slaves to clear plantation land that his father had left him near Somerville, Tennessee. Four years later Polk sold his Somerville plantation and, together with his brother-in-law, bought 920 acres (3.7 km²) of land, Sony VPCEB1C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2M1R Keyboard a cotton plantation near Coffeeville, Mississippi. He ran this plantation for the rest of his life, eventually taking it over completely from his brother-in-law. Polk rarely sold slaves, although once he became President and could better afford it, Sony VPCEB1E0E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2M0E Keyboardhe bought more. Polk's will stipulated that their slaves were to be freed after his wife Sarah had died. However, the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution freed all remaining slaves in rebel states long before the death of his wife in 1891.[46] Sony VPCEB1E8E Keyboard
Foreign policy
Polk strongly supported expansion. Democrats believed that opening up more land for yeoman farmers was critical for the success of republican virtue. (See Manifest Destiny.) Like most Southerners, he supported the annexation of Texas. To balance the interests of North and South, he wanted to acquire the Oregon Country (present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia) as well. He sought to purchase California, which Mexico had neglected. Sony VPCEB1E9E Keyboard
Oregon territory
Main article: Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon Territory, established by the Oregon Treaty
Polk put heavy pressure on Britain to resolve the Oregon boundary dispute. Since 1818, the territory had been under the joint occupation and control of the United Kingdom and the United States. Previous U.S. administrations had offered to divide the region along the 49th parallel, Sony VPCEB1E9J Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2E9R Keyboardwhich was not acceptable to Britain, as they had commercial interests along the Columbia River. Although the Democratic platform asserted a claim to the entire region, Polk was willing to compromise. When the British again refused to accept the 49th parallel boundary proposal, Sony VPCEB1E9R Keyboard
Polk broke off negotiations and returned to the Democratic platform "All Oregon" demand (which called for all of Oregon up to the 54-40 line that marked the southern boundary of Russian Alaska). "54-40 or fight!" now became a popular rallying cry among Democrats[47] Sony VPCEB1J8E Keyboard
Polk wanted territory, not war, so he compromised with the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 divided the Oregon Country along the 49th parallel, the original American proposal. Sony VPCEB1M0E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2E1R KeyboardAlthough there were many who still clamored for the entire territory, the treaty was approved by the Senate. By settling for the 49th parallel, Polk angered many midwestern Democrats.
Sony VPCEB2C5E KeyboardMany of these Democrats believed that Polk had always wanted the boundary at the 49th, and that he had fooled them into believing he wanted it at the 54th parallel. The portion of Oregon territory acquired by the United States later formed the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and parts of the states of Montana and Wyoming. Sony VPCEB1M1R Keyboard
Texas
Main article: Texas Annexation
President Tyler despised Polk as a person and politician.[citation needed] Upon hearing of Polk's election to office, Tyler urged Congress to pass a joint resolution admitting Texas to the Union; Congress complied on February 28, 1845. Texas promptly accepted the offer and officially became a state on December 29, 1845. Sony VPCEB1S0E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2B4E KeyboardThe annexation angered Mexico, which had lost Texas in 1836. Mexican politicians had repeatedly warned that annexation would lead to war. Nonetheless, just days after the resolution passed Congress, Polk declared in his inaugural address that only Texas and the United States would decide whether to annex. Sony VPCEB1S1R Keyboard
Mexican-American War
Main article: Mexican-American War
Map of Mexico in 1845, with the Republic of Texas, the Republic of Yucatan and the disputed territory between Mexico and Texas in red. Mexico claimed to own all of Texas.
After the Texas annexation, Polk turned his attention to California, hoping to acquire the territory from Mexico before any European nation did so. Sony VPCEB1S8E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1Z1E Keyboard The main interest was San Francisco Bay as an access point for trade with Asia. In 1845, he sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to purchase California and New Mexico for $24–30 million. Slidell's arrival caused political turmoil in Mexico after word leaked out that he was there to purchase additional territory and not to offer compensation for the loss of Texas.
Sony VPCEB2H4E KeyboardThe Mexicans refused to receive Slidell, citing a technical problem with his credentials. In January 1846, to increase pressure on Mexico to negotiate, Polk sent troops under General Zachary Taylor into the area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande—territory that was claimed by both the U.S. and Mexico. Sony VPCEB3A4E Keyboard
Slidell returned to Washington in May 1846, having been rebuffed by the Mexican government. Polk regarded this treatment of his diplomat as an insult and an "ample cause of war",[48] and he prepared to ask Congress for a declaration of war. Meanwhile Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and briefly occupied Matamoros, Sony VPCEB3B4E Keyboard
Tamaulipas. Taylor continued to blockade ships from entering the port of Matamoros. Mere days before Polk intended to make his request to Congress, he received word that Mexican forces had crossed the Rio Grande area and killed eleven American soldiers. Polk then made this the casus belli, and in a message to Congress on May 11, Sony VPCEB3B4R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4B4E Keyboard 1846, he stated that Mexico had "invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil."
Some Whigs, such as Abraham Lincoln, challenged Polk's version of events,[49Sony VPCEB3C4E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4J1R Keyboard] but Congress overwhelmingly approved the declaration of war. Many Whigs feared that opposition would cost them politically by casting themselves as unpatriotic for not supporting the war effort.[50] Sony VPCEB3C4R Keyboard
In the House, antislavery Whigs led by John Quincy Adams voted against the war; among Democrats, Senator John C. Calhoun was the most notable opponent of the declaration.
The Mexican Cession (in red) was acquired through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Gadsden Purchase (in orange) was acquired through purchase after Polk left office.
Military action
Polk selected the top generals and set the military strategy of the war. By the summer of 1846, American forces under General Stephen W. Kearny had captured New Mexico. Meanwhile, Army captain John C. Frémont led settlers in northern California to overthrow the Mexican garrison in Sonoma (in the Bear Flag Revolt). Sony VPCEB3D4R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4C4E KeyboardGeneral Zachary Taylor, at the same time, was having success on the Rio Grande, although Polk did not reinforce his troops there. The United States also negotiated a secret arrangement with Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican general and dictator who had been overthrown in 1844.
Sony VPCEB3S1R KeyboardSanta Anna agreed that, if given safe passage into Mexico, he would attempt to persuade those in power to sell California and New Mexico to the United States. Once he reached Mexico, however, he reneged on his agreement, declared himself President, and tried to drive the American invaders back. Santa Anna's efforts, Sony VPCEB3E1R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB3H4E Keyboardhowever, were in vain, as Generals Taylor and Winfield Scott destroyed all resistance. Scott captured Mexico City in September 1847, and Taylor won a series of victories in northern Mexico. Even after these battles, Mexico did not surrender until 1848, when it agreed to peace terms set out by Polk.
Peace: the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Polk sent diplomat Nicholas Trist to negotiate with the Mexicans. Lack of progress prompted the President to order Trist to return to the United States, but the diplomat ignored the instructions and stayed in Mexico to continue bargaining. Sony VPCEB3E4R Keyboard
Trist successfully negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which Polk agreed to ratify, ignoring calls from Democrats who demanded that all Mexico be annexed. The treaty added 1.2 million square miles (3.1 million square kilometers) of territory to the United States; IBM Thinkpad E525 Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad X201S Keyboard Mexico's size was halved, while that of the United States increased by a third. California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming were all included in the Mexican Cession. The treaty also recognized the annexation of Texas and acknowledged American control over the disputed territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Mexico, in turn, received $15 million. IBM Thinkpad E520S Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad X201 Keyboard The war claimed fewer than 20,000 American lives but over 50,000 Mexican ones.[51] It may have cost the United States $100 million.[52] Finally, the Wilmot Proviso injected the issue of slavery in the new territories, even though Polk had insisted to Congress and in his diary that this had never been a war goal. IBM Thinkpad E520 Keyboard
The treaty, however, needed ratification by the Senate. In March 1848, the Whigs, who had been so opposed to Polk's policy, suddenly changed position. Two-thirds of the Whigs voted for Polk's treaty. This ended the war and legalized the acquisition of the territories. IBM Thinkpad E425 Keyboard
The war had serious consequences for Polk and the Democrats. It gave the Whig Party a unifying message of denouncing the war as an immoral act of aggression carried out through abuse of power by the president. In the 1848 election, IBM Thinkpad E420 Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad SL500 Keyboardhowever, the Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, a war hero, and celebrated his victories. Taylor refused to criticize Polk. As a result of the strain of managing the war effort directly and in close detail, Polk's health markedly declined toward the end of his presidency.
Cuba
In mid-1848, President Polk authorized his ambassador to Spain, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase of Cuba and offer Spain up to $100 million, an astounding sum at the time for one territory, equal to $2.65 billion in present day terms.[53] Cuba was close to the United States and had slavery,
IBM Thinkpad SL310 Keyboardso the idea appealed to Southerners but was unwelcome in the North. But Spain was still making huge profits in Cuba (notably in sugar, molasses, rum, and tobacco), and the Spanish government rejected Saunders' overtures.[54] IBM Thinkpad E420S Keyboard
Department of the Interior
One of Polk's last acts as President was to sign the bill creating the Department of the Interior (March 3, 1849). This was the first new cabinet position created since the early days of the Republic. Polk had misgivings about the federal government usurping power over public lands from the states; however, IBM Thinkpad E120 Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad E220S Keyboard the delivery of the legislation on his last full day in office gave him no time to find constitutional grounds for a veto, or to draft a sufficient veto message, so Polk signed the bill.[55]
James K. Polk's tomb lies on the grounds of the state capitol in Nashville, Tennessee.
Polk's time in the White House took its toll on his health. Full of enthusiasm and vigor when he entered office, Polk left on March 4, 1849, Dell Inspiron 1521 Keyboard
Dell Inspiron 1764 Keyboard exhausted by his years of public service. He lost weight and had deep lines on his face and dark circles under his eyes. He is believed to have contracted cholera in New Orleans, Louisiana, on a goodwill tour of the South.[ Dell Inspiron 1526 Keyboard
Dell Inspiron N4110 Keyboard 57] He died at his new home, Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee, at 3:15 pm on June 15, 1849, three months after leaving office. He was buried on the grounds of Polk Place. Polk's last words illustrate his devotion to his wife: HP 641499-031 keyboard
Dell Pk130af2b05 keyboard "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you."[58] She lived at Polk Place for over forty years after his death. She died on August 14, 1891. Polk was also survived by his mother, Jane Knox Polk, who died on January 11, 1852.[59][6
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Polk had the shortest retirement of all Presidents at 103 days. He was the youngest former president to die in retirement at the age of 53. He and his wife are buried in a tomb on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee. The tomb was moved to this location in 1893 after his home at Polk Place was demolished. Dell RX221 keyboard
Reputation
See also: Mexican-American War#Opposition to the war
Polk's historic reputation was largely formed by the attacks made on him in his own time; the Whigs claimed that he was drawn from a well-deserved obscurity; Senator Tom Corwin of Ohio remarked "James K. Polk, of Tennessee? Dell P0XM3 keyboard
Dell NSK-DB101 keyboardAfter that, who is safe?" The Republican historians of the nineteenth century inherited this view. Polk was a compromise between the Democrats of the North, like David Wilmot and Silas Wright, and the plantation owners who were led by John C. Calhoun; the northern Democrats thought that when they did not get their way, it was because he was the tool of the slaveholders, Dell ORX221 keyboard
and the conservatives of the South insisted that he was the tool of the northern Democrats. These views were long reflected in the historical literature, until Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr and Bernard De Voto argued that Polk was nobody's tool, but set his own goals and achieved them.[61] Dell UK723UK keyboard
Polk is now recognized, not only as the strongest president between Jackson and Lincoln, but the president who made the United States a coast-to-coast nation. When historians began ranking the presidents in 1948, Polk ranked 10th in Arthur M. Schlesinger’s poll. and has subsequently ranked 8th in Schlesinger’s 1962 poll, Dell 0FM760 keyboard
Dell V082025AS1 keyboard11th in the Riders-McIver Poll (1996), 11th in the most recent Siena Poll (2002), 9th in the most recent Wall Street Journal Poll (2005), and 12th in the latest C-Span Poll (2009).[62] Dell PTP49 keyboard
Polk biographers over the years have sized up the magnitude of Polk’s achievements and his legacy, particularly his two most recent. “There are three key reasons why James K. Polk deserves recognition as a significant and influential American president,” Walter Borneman wrote. “First, Polk accomplished the objectives of his presidential term as he defined them; second, Dell 0UK717 keyboard
Dell PK1303I0600 keyboardhe was the most decisive chief executive before the Civil War; and third, he greatly expanded the executive power of the presidency, particularly its war powers, its role as commander-in-chief,
Dell NSK-DB301 keyboardand its oversight of the executive branch."[63] President Harry S. Truman summarized this view by saying that Polk was "a great president. Said what he intended to do and did it."[64]
While Polk’s legacy thus takes many forms, the most outstanding is the map of the continental United States, whose landmass he increased by a third. “To look at that map,” Robert Merry concluded, “and to take in the western and southwestern expanse included in it, is to see the magnitude of Polk’s presidential accomplishments.”[65] Dell HT517 keyboard
Nevertheless, Polk's aggressive expansionism has been criticized on ethical grounds. He believed in "Manifest Destiny" even more than most did. Referencing the Mexican-American War, General Ulysses S. Grant stated that "I was bitterly opposed to the [Texas annexation], and to this day regard the war, which resulted,
Dell HT514 keyboardas one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory."[66] Whig politicians, including David Wilmot,
Dell 0WX4JF keyboardAbraham Lincoln and John Quincy Adams contended that the Texas Annexation and the Mexican Cession enhanced the pro-slavery factions of the United States.[67] Unsatisfactory conditions pertaining to the status of slavery in the territories acquired during the Polk administration led to the Compromise of 1850, Dell P0XM3 keyboard
Dell HT514 keyboardone of the primary factors in the establishment of the Republican Party and later the beginning of the American Civil War.[68]
Humorously, Sam Houston is said to have observed that Polk was "a victim of the use of water as a beverage.[69]