![]() He was a good man, according to his lights, a man of principle who ceased to be an ideologue when difficult circumstances forced him to be pragmatic. I enjoyed reading about the life of John Tyler in Gary May’s clear and concise account. Still, his presidency could boast of achievements, particularly in foreign policy: the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (which fixed the Maine-Canada border and led to better relations with England) the Treaty of Wanghia (which opened China to American trade, giving the US “most favored nation” status), and established “The Tyler Doctrine” (which extended the Monroe Doctrine to include the Sandwich Islands, later the state of Hawaii), and the problematic annexation of Texas (which would soon, under President Polk, lead to the Mexican War.) The irony was that Tyler became so isolated that he felt compelled to stretch the boundaries of executive authority merely to survive, thereby acting like the kind of imperial president a state’s rights man like himself should despise. But Tyler, the last of the Virginia presidents, took his states’ rights principles seriously, and fought his would-be puppet-master Henry Clay over the establishment of a new bank, and other matters. The Whigs leaders considered him weak, and only chose him as vice-president to satisfy the patrician planters of the Old South, a minority of their uneasy coalition. ![]() Perhaps his was inevitably a contentious presidency, for nobody-not even himself-seriously believed he would be president. When he tried to govern according to his principles, ignoring not only Democratic desires but his own Whig party’s demands, they called him “Monsieur Veto.” When his cabinet of Whigs-except for Daniel Webster-all resigned in frustration, and the Whigs officially expelled him, they called him “The Man Without a Party.” And even later, when a generation had passed and Tyler, having voted at the Virginia convention to secede from the Union, was elected to the Confederate States House of Representatives, they called him “Traitor” too. He didn’t receive a cool nickname like “Tippecanoe”: instead, they called him “His Accidency.” When John Tyler rose to the presidency because of the death of William Henry Harrison, he became the first vice-president to do so. Gary May, a historian known for his dramatic accounts of secret government, sheds new light on Tyler’s controversial presidency, which saw him set aside his dedication to the Constitution to gain his two great ambitions: Texas and a place in history. The resulting sectional divisions roiled the country. He engaged secret agents to help resolve a border dispute with Britain and negotiated the annexation of Texas without the Senate’s approval. In foreign policy, as well, Tyler marched to his own drummer. He vetoed the charter for a new Bank of the United States, which he deemed unconstitutional, and was expelled from his own party. ![]() ![]() Soon Tyler was beset by the Whigs’ competing factions. It was a controversial move by this Southern gentleman, who had been placed on the fractious Whig ticket with the hero of Tippecanoe in order to sweep Andrew Jackson’s Democrats, and their imperial tendencies, out of the White House. When William Henry Harrison died in April 1841, just one month after his inauguration, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency. The first “accidental president,” whose secret maneuverings brought Texas into the Union and set secession in motion ![]()
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