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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

(1790–1862). Tall, soft-spoken John Tyler was never expected to be president of the United States. When he was elected vice-president in 1840, with William Henry Harrison as president, he was just a political pawn. Harrison, however, died after only a month in office, and Tyler became president—the first vice-president to succeed to the presidency by the death of a president.

Tyler’s administration was stormy. Personally he was mild and gracious. Politically he had nothing but enemies. Time and again angry crowds burned him in effigy, even within sight of the White House, yet he never showed anger.

Opinions of him differ widely. President Theodore Roosevelt declared: “Tyler has been called a mediocre man, but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monumental littleness.” Before he became president, Woodrow Wilson said that “nature and habit forbade Tyler a frank . . . unhesitating course. . . . he had neither the initiative nor audacity enough for leadership.”

Some later historians, however, say that his political foes mistook Tyler’s courtesy for weakness. They admit he wavered on some issues but point out that his critics usually ignore his accomplishments as president. These historians call Tyler an able and farsighted administrator, a skilled conciliator, and a fine diplomat in foreign affairs.

He led Congress to reorganize the Navy, to establish the nucleus of the present Naval Observatory, and to promote a national telegraph system—which became the heart of the Weather Bureau. His leadership helped to end the costly Seminole Indian wars.

His mediation led to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which established the boundary of Maine and Canada. His calm judgment ended Dorr’s Rebellion in Rhode Island. He helped negotiate the treaty with China to open its ports for the first time. Finally, in his last days as president he obtained a resolution from Congress to annex Texas.

Tyler Came from Wealthy Family

John Tyler was born March 29, 1790, at Greenway, the family plantation on the James River about 30 miles southeast of Richmond, Virginia. He was the sixth child and second son of John and Mary Armistead Tyler. John Tyler, Sr., was a governor of Virginia and had been a roommate of Thomas Jefferson at the College of William and Mary.

John attended an “old field school.” He was an able scholar and spirited enough to hit back at a violent schoolmaster. At the age of 12 he entered the grammar school division of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Later he took the college classical course. He was especially interested in Latin, Greek, ancient history, Shakespeare, and poetry and liked playing the violin. He was graduated at 17 and studied law. At 19 he was admitted to practice.

Legal and social success came easily to him. He was slender and six feet tall, with blue eyes, light brown hair, and a thin Roman nose. His wit was quick and pleasant, his voice unusually musical.

Begins Political Career and Marries

With his popularity, Tyler easily won election to the Virginia House of Delegates, which he entered in 1811, when he was only 21 years old. His flair for public speaking, in the somewhat florid style of the day, won him immediate attention. He was reelected four times; then, in 1816, he was elected a representative to Congress. In 1821, ill health kept him from seeking reelection.

Meanwhile, in 1813, he married Letitia Christian. They made Greenway their home. Of their eight children, seven lived to see Tyler as president.

Tyler returned to political life in 1823. He won every office he sought—state representative, governor, and United States senator. His salaries, however, were so small that Letitia and he scrimped to rear their large family. While governor of Virginia, and expected to entertain generously, he invited the entire legislature to a banquet in the drafty mansion. To dramatize his meager salary, he served beverages and only Virginia ham and huge plates of corn pone. By making every penny count, he and Mrs. Tyler managed to send their sons to the College of William and Mary.

Strange Way to the Presidency

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-ds-00706)

In the election year of 1840, Tyler was a political hybrid. He had been a Democrat; but, when Andrew Jackson became president, he opposed some of Old Hickory’s policies and became a Whig. Many Southern Democrats joined him. To capture those votes, the Whigs in 1840 nominated Tyler as vice-president, with Harrison for president. They did not care what Tyler thought politically because he was not the presidential candidate. In the noisy Whig campaign for “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” Tyler was just part of a slogan.

Harrison’s death changed everything. Tyler, believing both in states’ rights and in strict interpretation of the Constitution, satisfied neither Democrats nor Whigs. The Whigs “read him out of the party,” disclaiming any responsibility for his acts. Tyler became a “man without a party.” Henry Clay, Whig leader, expressed their feelings: “If a God-directed thunderbolt were to strike and annihilate the traitor, all would say that ‘Heaven is just.’ ”

A shocked Congress did not even know what his title should be. There was no precedent. The Cabinet suggested that he call himself “Vice-President of the United States, acting President.” Tyler calmly ignored this suggestion. He pointed out that—under the Constitution—he was actually the president. Firmly assuming all the powers and responsibilities of the presidency, Tyler established the precedent for future vice-presidents called to the office.

Remarriage and Retirement

Letitia Tyler died in the White House in 1842. In June 1844 Tyler married Julia Gardiner, a wealthy young New York woman. At the end of his term, they retired to Sherwood Forest, a plantation on the James River in Virginia. Julia and John Tyler had seven children.

Tyler did not again run for public office until the outbreak of the Civil War. He hoped that conciliation would prevent the war and served as chairman of a conference in Washington in February 1861. When the conference failed, he offered to take up arms for Virginia. He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives but died before taking office. He was buried in Richmond.

Additional Reading

Falkof, Lucille. John Tyler: 10th President of the United States (Garrett, 1990). Kane, J.N. Facts About the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Information, 5th ed. (Wilson, 1990). Lillegard, Dee. John Tyler: 10th President of the United States (Childrens, 1987). Peterson, N.L. The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler (Univ. Press of Kansas, 1989).