John Tyler was the 10th US president, the first to assume office from the vice presidency and the first born after the Constitution was drafted. He had a long political career, was a Whig but never fully committed to the party, and vetoed two major Whig bills. Tyler initiated the process that would have made Texas a state and supported states’ rights on the issue of slavery. He was a slave owner and believed to have fathered a child with one of his slaves. Tyler was married twice and had 15 children. He died in 1862 before taking office in the Confederate Congress.
John Tyler was the 10th president of the United States and set a number of precedents during his presidency. He was initially elected in 1840 as vice president to William Henry Harrison, but Harrison died just a month after taking office. John Tyler was thus the first president to assume office from the vice presidency, and he was also the first president born after the United States Constitution was drafted. Tyler also has the dubious honor of being the first president who had an impeachment attempt against him.
John Tyler was born in Virginia in 1790, the son of a wealthy landowner. His father would become governor of Virginia and Tyler would soon follow in his father’s political footsteps. He was well educated at William and Mary College, later studied law and easily passed the bar exams. He had a short stint in the Army before starting his own law practice.
When John Tyler was 21, he was already preparing what would be a long political career, serving in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1811 to 1816. He then served in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821. A rash of poor health forced him to decline re-election to the House. However, in 1825, he was well enough to assume the title of governor of Virginia for two years. He then became a United States Senator in 1827, serving for nine years.
The Whig party, to which President Harrison belonged, attracted John Tyler. He would nominally become a Whig, and people supported his presence on Harrison’s ticket in 1840. Yet he was never fully a Whig, the Democratic Party believing that the power of Congress should be stronger than that of the executive office . He certainly proved it with his actions after he assumed the presidency. He vetoed two major Whig bills passed by the Senate, fomenting discord among the mainly Whig Senate. The Whigs eventually voted to expel John Tyler from the party, just months after he took office as president.
John Tyler is best known for initiating the process that would have made Texas a state. This was a matter of debate, since he had the potential for the balance between northern and southern states to shift power to the south. Later, Tyler would fully support states’ rights on the issue of slavery. Although he was a lifelong slave owner, he made at least a slight attempt to seek a peaceful settlement between the north and south.
Character-wise, John Tyler wasn’t always admirable. He is believed to have fathered a child with one of his slaves, a significant abuse of power. In other respects, he appears to have been a very strong, determined and strong-willed president. Tyler can be said to have been politically uncorrupted by outside influences and pursued the presidency in the way he saw fit.
In the years following his presidency, John Tyler was often ill. He presided over the Virginia Peace Convention and joined the Confederate Congress. He was elected to the Confederate House but ill health and possibly bronchitis or pneumonia claimed his life in 1862 before taking office.
In his personal life, John Tyler was married twice, first to Letitia Christian until 1842, followed by Julia Gardiner in 1844. He was then the first US president who ushered more than one First Lady into the White House. Julia could be called something of a trophy wife, 30 years younger than her husband and five years younger than Tyler’s eldest son. With his two wives she had 15 children. Letitia bore Tyler eight children and Julia fathered seven.
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