John Tyler: President without a Party Who would take over as…
John Tyler: President without a Party
Who would take over as president? The Constitution was remarkably vague on this concern– up until Vice President John Tyler took a firm position. Jared Cohen, author of Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, tells Tyler’s obscure story.
See PragerU’s American Presidents series: https://l.prageru.com/3IjUsLU
SUBSCRIBE https://www.prageru.com/join
Script:
A loud, relentless rapping woke United States Vice President John Tyler out of a sound sleep.
Dressed in his sleeping frock and a fabric hat, an inflamed Tyler unlocked. Two boys stood before him.
One of them handed the Vice President a file.
Tyler broke the seal and check out.
” My God, the President is dead.”
The president was William Henry Harrison. He had remained in office for just 31 days.
In America’s brief history, this had actually never taken place in the past. And no one, consisting of the Vice President, was rather sure what to do.
It was April, 1841.
John Tyler, tall, thin, with an aquiline nose and regal bearing, was the ultimate southern gentleman. A veteran component in Virginia politics, he had really served both as guv and senator. When Harrison, who was searching for somebody to support his Southern base, used him the VP slot, Tyler felt task bound to accept.
The 2 guys rode to a basic accomplishment on the enticing motto– amongst the most memorable in governmental politics– “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” (” Tippecanoe” described Harrison’s 1811 triumph over hostile Indians at the Tippecanoe River in Indiana.).
On March 4, 1841, Harrison provided a rambling two-hour inauguration speech on a cold, rainy afternoon. After, Tyler left town and returned to his plantation. He figured he could be vice president there just in addition to he might in Washington, and a lot more comfortable.
It was at Tyler’s plantation that the messengers had in fact delivered their eventful news.
When Tyler got here in the nation’s capital, the only individual who presumed that he was now president was Tyler.
Here’s why:.
Short article II of the Constitution checks out as follows: “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Resignation, inability, or death to discharge the Powers and Duties of the stated Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President.”.
What does that suggest?
It could rapidly suggest that the Vice President was just a placeholder up till a brand-new President could be chosen by Congress or by a distinct election. That’s what John Quincy Adams the former President and now Massachusetts congressman thought. And many accepted him.
Tyler took a definitely numerous view.
, if ownership is nine-tenths of the law. Tyler had ownership. And he wasn’t going to release.
For that reason, a historical precedent was completely developed: in case of the death of the President, the Vice President serves out the staying term. We take this smooth shift for approved now, however simply given that of what Tyler did.
His extremely first crisis fixed, he right now got in another.
Tyler was a member of the Whig Party. The Whigs were formed to oppose the Democrats which had been developed and controlled by the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. The substantial problem for the Whigs was the center of an across the country bank which they saw as a way to get inexpensive credit to farmers to fund westward growth. The Democrats, taking their lead from Jackson, did not like the idea of enabling to what they believed were corrupt New York money interests.
Tyler, although he was Whig, did not like the principle of an across the country bank as much as Jackson did. When Congress, then controlled by the Whigs, passed a nationwide bank expenditure, Tyler banned it– two times. The Whigs were so incensed, they kicked Tyler out of the party.
By his second year in office, he was a President without a celebration.
One may fairly ask, why, if Tyler opposed the National Bank, was he Whig at all. The answer reveals both the strength and weak point of that celebration. The strength was that it was catch-all for anyone who didn’t like the Democrats– this consisted of, abnormally enough, both Northern abolitionists and Southern slave-owners like Tyler.
Tyler thought he may utilize this confusion to his advantage to win a second term. His plan relied on achieving one massive goal, bringing the Lone Star Republic of Texas into the United States. Texas, Tyler thought, would merge Whigs who chose westward growth and Southern Democrats who liked the idea of adding a new slave state.
For the total script, see: https://www.prageru.com/video/john-tyler-president-without-a-party.
source
The Constitution was remarkably unclear on this issue– up until Vice President John Tyler took a company position. Tyler was a member of the Whig Party.
One might relatively ask, why, if Tyler opposed the National Bank, was he Whig at all.
The Constitution was remarkably unclear on this issue– up till Vice President John Tyler took a firm position. Tyler was a member of the Whig Party. The Constitution was remarkably vague on this concern– up until Vice President John Tyler took a business position. Tyler was a member of the Whig Party. The Whigs were so incensed, they kicked Tyler out of the party.
