John Tyler Thesis

John Tyler

Have you ever heard of having an accidental president? Due to William Henry Harrison's death John Tyler is known to be the accidental president, because he was sworn into office from vice president to president. John Tyler was involved in many organizations throughout his lifetime. John Tyler may have been an accidental president, but he is one of the best presidents in U.S. history.

Born on March 29, 1790 in Charles City County, Virginia was a man by the name of John Tyler. John Tyler was the second son to be born of eight children to his parents John and Mary Tyler. John Tyler's father made sure that his sons received the best education that was available. John had five brothers and two sisters. He was the second oldest of his

8 siblings. The only one older than him was his sister Elizabeth Armistead Tyler. John Tyler's father is the person who inspired him to become a lawyer and later politics. His father was a politician, a lawyer, and then later on became the governor of Virginia.
At the age of seven years old John Tylers mother Mary Tyler died from a stroke.

At Such a young age and having seven siblings losing his mom was a big loss and setback for his life. As John went to college he had a lot of money issues, and also throughout his life despite being born into money.. He did not let that stop him from being extraordinary. John Tyler at first had some trouble after he gratuities from college on becoming a lawyer.

Sherwood Forest Plantation is the name of John Tyler's families plantation. Sherwood Forest PLantation is located in Charles County, Virginia. It consists of the longest frame house in America, it is 300 feet long. Their are one thousand six-hundred acres that surround the plantation. Outside there is twenty-five acres of terraced garden. Inside John Tylers plantation features a sixty-eight foot ballroom catering to the dances of his time. John Tylers family members can still be seen at the plantation.

John Tyler attended local schools when he was young. At the age of just twelve years old he attended the same college as his father did, that college was William and Mary. At William and Mary he studied law with his fathers help. John tyler attended William and Mary from 1802-1207. By the time he was nineteen years old he was graduated from William and Mary and was starting his career as a

lawyer.
In 1809 John Tyler was admissioned to the virginia bar. He soon gained a place with an elite firm headed by Edmund Randolph. It quickly become obvious that John would not be satisfied with just a lawyer's career. After only two years with Edmund he used his contacts to gain a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. John Tyler entered the House of Delegates and politics at the age of twenty-one. As soon as he gained his seat not long after did he make his mark there. He lead a campaign to censure legislators who supported the new Bank of the United States. John Tyler saw it as a dangerous broad of nationalist power. Around this time he had another setback in his life his father died.
John Tyler got married to Letitia Christian a young woman from another ones of Virginias clans. Together they had eight kids, except one died at infancy. And a couple others died when they were young. His kids names are Mary, Robert, John Letitia, Elizabeth, Anne Contesse, Alice, and Tazewell.
In December 1939 Whig leaders believed that democratic President Martin Van Buren could be beaten with the right challenger. The challenger must have moderate views that would not alienate a large number of voters.They eventually chose William Henry Harrison and then soon after they had decided that they needed to choose a vice-president. And since William was chosen from a state closed in slavery they looked in the slaves states and found John Tyler to be Williams running mate. JOhn Tyler had run well in the In the Southern states for the 1836 election. The Whig’s party hoped to get Virginias twenty-three electoral votes. which had gone to the Democrats the last time.
During the 1840 election John Tyler remained inactive for most of the campaign. During the final weeks of the election word had reached John that Van Burens vice president was conducting a vigorous re election campaign in Ohio and surrounding states. So he countered them and had his own tour of speaking to Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. What helped William Henry Harrison win presidency was that he repeated at every opportunity that he had he said that he would take his directions straight from congress, meaning that he would know and understand the needs and wishes of the American people. Although Tyler failed in persuading his own state Virginia, he still took satisfaction believing that his Pennsylvania tour is what was responsible for winning that states electoral votes. This election is what put the House of Congress under Whig control for the first time ever.
On March 4, 1841 the senate convened in special special session to fulfill the role of inaugurating Harrison's presidency. Then John Tyler arose and proceeded with vice president Richard Johnson to the presiding officers chair to take his oath from President pro tempore King. In John Tyler's inaugural address he gave a three minute speech. In his speech was his main theme was the centrality of the states’ rights doctrine:
“Here [in the Senate] are to be found the immediate representatives of the States, by whose sovereign will the Government has been spoken into existence. Here exists the perfect equality among the members of this confederacy, which gives to the smallest State in the Union a voice as potential as that of the largest. To this body is committed in an eminent degree, the trust of guarding and protecting the institutions handed down to us from our fathers, as well against the waves of popular and rash impulses on the one hand, as against attempts at executive encroachment on the other.”[John Tyler, Tenth Vice President [1841].
After the inauguration John Tyler returned to Williamsburg.

He traveled there with the expectation of having peace and quiet for the next four years of his life. Not even a month later Secretary of State Daniel Webster sent word to Tyler that president Harrison became ill. But he did not think it was nothing serious and that it would be unnecessary to return to the nation's capital. Then on April 5 1841, two horseman arrived at John Tylers plantation to give him a letter from the cabinet. The horsemen were the State Department chief clerk Fletcher Webster, son of of Secretary of state Daniel webster, and Senate assistant door keeper Robert Beale. The letter stated that the previous day president William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia. After a quick breakfast, John Tyler had to commence on his rushed journey to the capital. He journeyed back to the capital first on horseback and then by boat which put him in the capital the next day at four in the morning. Tyler was only fifty-one years old younger than any other previous president. Although being the youngest he was the most experienced. John Tyler served as a member in both houses of the U.S. Congress, both houses of his state legislature, and vice president of the United

States.
William Henry Harrison's demise presented the U.S. with a constitutional crisis. The Constitution of this time had no twenty-fifth amendment to layout the actions of the vice president when the chief executive became disabled or if there is a vacancy before the end of the presidents term. John Tyler was the first vice president that succeeded to presidency upon the death of his predecessor, he was determined to alter theory into practice, becoming the first president in his own right and not vice president acting as president like Harrison's cabinet labeled him. Many people surrounding John Tyler and did not think that he should become president, and others even argued towards the situation. He argued that it included in his vice presidential oath that it covered the possibility of taking over as president. So there was also no need for John Tyler to take the presidential oath. He eventually took the oath which was administered on April 6. Doing the oath produced a significant reward, it boosted his salary from $5,000-$25,000 a year. John Tyler's first move as president he convened to Harrison's cabinet to see how William had done everything. Secretary of State Daniel Webster advised John Tyler that Harrison brought all administrative issues before the cabinet. The settlement was decided by the majority, each member of the cabinet and John Tyler all had one vote. Tyler responded, “I am President and I am responsible for my administration.”
Divisions on a establishing a new banking system lingered in John Tyler's early presidency. He was consistent in his concern for preservations of states rights and state banks advocated a weaker bank. When Clay advised John Tyler to start a new Bank of the United States he said that he wanted to wait and put it off until the regular session in December. Clay was frustrated and retorted that it was not acceptable.
“Then, sir, I wish you to understand this — that you and I were born in the same district; that we have fed upon the same food, and have breathed the same natal air. Go you now then, Mr. Clay, to your end of the avenue, where stands the Capitol, and there perform your duty to the country as you shall think proper. So help me God, I shall do mine at this end of it as I shall think proper." [John Tyler, Tenth Vice President [1841].
In interest of harmony Clay decided to compromise on the bank in which later on John Tyler promptly vetoed.