Our Presidents
                          John Tyler
                             Tenth
                          1841-1845

"President John Tyler" was born in Charles City County, Virginia on his father's plantation. President John Tyler graduated from "William and Mary College" at seventeen years of age and studied law with his father, a Federal District Judge. At twenty-one President John Tyler became involved in politics and was serving in the "Virginia House of Delegates".

During this time President John Tyler married "Letitia Christian", and they eventually had eight children. President John Tyler was elected to the "House of Representatives", became "Governor of Virginia" , and a member of the "United States Senate". During the years in Congress, President John Tyler, opposed to continuing slavery, was against any measure that would keep slavery from spreading, because he felt that the wider it spread, the more quickly it would be gone.

President John Tyler supported "John Quincy Adams" for the Presidency in 1824, but when as President, John Quincy Adams proposed his enormous program for federal funancing of national improvements, President John Tyler was appalled at the prospect of the government taking over state functions, and he turned to the "Andrew Jackson Democrats".

When "Andrew Jackson" became President however, President John Tyler disapproved of the "rabble" who followed him into government. From then on, his thinking became more and more "Whig".  President John Tyler was nominated as "William Henry Harrison's" Vice President only because the Whig Party hoped to gain the support of "turncoat Democrats" never dreaming that their candidate would soon become President.

When President Harrison died after one month in office, President John Tyler was at his home in Virginia unaware that President William Henry Harrison was even ill. President John Tyler rushed to "Washington, D.C." to be sworn in as President, a Democratic leader of a Whig government.

The new President, John Tyler, uncertain of how to handle the Presidency, passed the leadership to Congress. "Senator Henry Clay" immediately brought up a bill to establish a third United States Bank. President John Tyler vetoed this bill and a second similar one. In the quarrel between President John Tyler and Senator Clay that followed, President John Tyler's whole Cabinet resigned with the exception of "Daniel Webster, Secretary of State".

An angry mob stormed the White House. A resolution was introduced to impeach President John Tyler, but it was defeated. President John Tyler favored the annexation of the "Republic of Texas", but his enemies in Congress were so numerous that the State refused to ratify the treaty he concluded.

Only the recommendation of "James K. Polk" the Democratic nominee, saved the treaty, and President John Tyler signed it on his last day of office. Letitia Christian Tyler having died in 1842, President John Tyler married "Julia Gardiner" at the end of his term. They had seven children. President John Tyler retired to Virginia, and at the beginning of the "Civil War" was elected to the "Confederate House of Representatives".

President John Tyler died at his estate in Virginia the following year.

Written by:
Karen Palumbo
Photography "NOT" by:
Robert Palumbo
2/7/2010  (c)