TYLER 





TYLER 



Democrats, the Whigs nominated Tyler for 

 Vice-President. The campaign was a continu- 

 ous, almost hysterical, uproar, and, as John 

 Fiske says, was marked by "a more liberal use 



of claptrap" than any other Presidential con- 

 test in our history. Harrison and Tyler were 

 elected, receiving 234 electoral votes out of a 

 total of 294. 



The Administration of John Tyler 



The inauguration of Harrison and Tyler was 

 scarcely over before Clay showed clearly that 

 he regarded the election as a victory for him- 

 >i-lf and the political principles for which he 

 stood. Tyler, on the other hand, claimed to see 

 in it nothing more than a stinging rebuke to 

 the "corrupt and tyrannical" party led by 

 Jackson and Van Buren. When, therefore, 

 President Harrison's death within one month 

 made 'Tyler President the situation promptly 

 showed possibilities of strife. 



When Congress met on May 31, 1841, nearly 

 two months after Harrison's death, the Whigs 

 had a majority in both houses. In his opening 

 message President Tyler reviewed the history 

 of the Bank of the United States and other 

 financial plans, and closed as follows: 



I shall be ready to concur with you in the 

 adoption of such system as you may propose, re- 

 serving to myself the ultimate power of rejecting 

 any measure which may, in my view of it, con- 

 flict with the Constitution or otherwise jeopard 

 the prosperity of the country, a power which I 

 could not part with, even if I would, but which I 

 will not believe any act of yours will call into 

 requisition. 



Congress, however, chose to ignore this 

 poorly-concealed threat, and after abolishing 

 Van Buren's subtreasury system proposed to 

 reestablish the Bank of the United States. 

 The President approved the former step, but 

 vetoed the bill to reestablish the Bank, for the 

 reason, which he had often stated, that Con- 

 gress had no right to establish a corporation 

 whose headquarters or branches should operate 

 in the states unless the states individually gave 

 their consent. Even before the passage of the 

 bill there were attempts by the Whig leaders to 

 get some "private compromise" which Tyler 

 would approve, but the President declined to 

 heed these advances. After the veto of the 

 bill, a new bill was drafted, in a form which it 

 was said the President could approve. Efforts 

 were made to bully the President to sign the 

 second bill. Clay, for example, wanted to 

 know why the President did not follow his 

 precedent in 1836, when he resigned from the 

 Senate, and now resign the Presidency if he 

 had scruples which "again hindered him from 

 Obeying the will of the people." 



Tyler, however, was unmoved, and on Sep- 

 tember 9, 1841, five days after the passage of 

 the second bill, returned it to Congress with 

 his veto message. On the llth all the inein! 

 of the Cabinet except Daniel Webster, Secre- 

 tary of State, resigned. Webster seems to have 

 been influenced by a double motive: first, h- 

 wanted to conclude the negotiations which soon 

 led to the Webster- Ashburt on Treaty (which 

 see); and second, he was farsighted enough to 

 see that Clay, his great rival, would receive all 

 the benefit from a Whig victory over Tyler. 

 The majority of the Whigs now refused to 

 recognize Tyler as one of their party, but a 

 handful which became known as "the corpo- 

 ral's guard" acknowledged his leadership. 



The Democrats now came to Tyler's support, 

 and the elections of 1842 gave them a majority 

 of sixty-one in place of the former Whig ma- 

 jority of twenty-five. The popular sentiment, 

 too, as the shadow of 1837 moved farther away, 

 showed a reaction in favor of the President. 

 So strong was this reaction that in 1844 the 

 Whig platform did not even mention the Bank 

 of the United States. In the meantime the 

 Whigs, in 1842, attempted to pass a protective 

 tariff bill, which provided for a distribution 

 among the states of the surplus which these 

 duties would create in the government Treasury. 

 Tyler vetoed the bill, chiefly because of this 

 clause. Then Congress passed the bill without 

 the clause, and the President signed it. One 

 other question, involving internal improve- 

 ments, divided the Whigs and Tyler. In 1844 

 Congress passed two so-called river-and-harbor 

 bills, one for the Eastern states and one for 

 the Western. The former Tyler vetoed, but 

 the latter he signed because the Mississippi 

 River, whose improvement was the principal 

 object of the bill, was a "great common high- 

 way for the commerce of the whole country." 



Boundary Problems and Annexation. On the 

 north and south the boundaries of the United 

 States had not been satisfactorily determined. 

 The Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 finally 

 ended one source of dispute with Great Britain, 

 but the Oregon question was left for Tyler's 

 successor to handle. A third problem, Texas, 

 was settled in the closing days of Tyler's term. 



