TYLER 



-VJ2S 



TYLER 



Texas had won its independence from Mexico 

 in 1836. The majority of its citizens were na- 

 tives of the United States, and from a national 

 standpoint the annexation of Texas was de- 

 sirable in every way. The opposition to an- 

 nexation came from the Northern Whigs, who 

 succeeded in rejecting the annexation treaty 

 which the administration negotiated with Texas 

 in 1844. After the election of 1844, how. 

 the opposition weakened, and a joint resolution 

 of both Houses of Congress, providing for an- 

 nexation, was signed by Tyler on March 3, 

 1845. On the next day Polk became President. 



Election of 1 844. Tyler and the Whigs parted 

 company long before the election of 1844. At 

 the same time, the division between the Demo- 

 cratic factions continued, with the result that 

 neither T}'ler nor Van Buren was strong enough 

 to win the Democratic nomination. It went to 

 James K. Polk. Another factional convention, 

 however, nominated Tyler. He accepted the 

 nomination, but later withdrew his name when 

 the regular Democrats appealed to him in the 

 interests of the party and formally urged him 

 to return to the fold. 



Miscellaneous Items of Interest. Two events 

 of far-reaching importance took place during 

 Tyler's term. One was the construction of the 

 first successful telegraph line in 1844; the other 

 was the discovery of copper in Michigan in the 

 same year. Dorr's Rebellion (1842) in Rhode 

 Island, the Patroon War in New York, the 

 difficulties of the Mormons at Nauvoo, the 

 dedication of Bunker Hill Monument (1843) 

 and the admission of Florida to the Union 

 (1845) are other important events which are 

 discussed elsewhere in these volumes. Fre- 

 mont's explorations in Colorado in 1842 to 

 1844; the establishment (1845) of the True 

 American, an abolitionist journal, at Lexington, 

 Kentucky; and the foundation of "Brook 

 Farm" near Boston, must also be mentioned. 



Tyler and the Confederacy. At the close of 

 his term President Tyler retired to an estate 

 which he bought three miles from Greenway, 

 his birthplace. There he lived quietly until the 

 threat of war called him to action in 1861. In 

 a letter to the Richmond Enquirer, January 17, 

 1861, he recommended a convention of the 

 border states to devise some adjustment for 

 the difficulties caused by the secession of South 

 Carolina. Such a convention was held at 

 Washington in February, and Tyler was chosen 

 as its president. When the Congress of the 

 United States rejected the resolutions adopted 

 by the convention, Tyler abandoned further 



efforts. The next day, in the Virginia state 

 convention, he advocated immediate secession. 

 In May, 1861, he was elected to the provisional 

 Congress of the Confederacy, and in the au- 

 tumn was elected to the permanent Congress. 

 Before he had taken his seat, he died at Rich- 

 mond, on January 18, 1862. He was buried in 

 Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, his grave 

 being about thirty feet from that of James 

 Monroe. The grave remained unmarked for 

 more than half a century, but in 1914 Congress 

 appropriated $10,000 to erect a suitable monu- 

 ment. 



Consult Tyler's Letters and Times of the 

 Tylers. 



TYLER, MOSES COIT (1835-1900), an Ameri- 

 can educator and writer on the history of 

 literature. He was born at Griswold, Conn., 

 studied at the University of Michigan and at 

 Yale and after graduating at Andover Theo- 

 logical Seminary became a Congregational 

 preacher at Oswego, N. Y. Later he removed 

 to Poughkeepsie, but abandoned the ministry 

 in 1862, because of ill health. For four years 

 thereafter he lived in England, and on his re- 

 turn home in 1867 became professor of litera- 

 ture at the University of Michigan. In 1881 he 

 accepted a professorship of American history at 

 Cornell University, and that post he held until 

 his death. 



Very successful as a teacher, Tyler won a 

 still more favorable reputation as a writer, and 

 his greatest work, A History of American Lit- 

 erature During the Colonial Time, with its 

 continuation, A Literary History of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution, ranks with the masterpieces on 

 the subject. Charming in style and evidencing 

 high scholarship, its only fault lies in the 

 tendency of its author to regard too favorably 

 certain unimportant writers a fault into which 

 his good nature and geniality betrayed him. 

 His other writings include Patrick Henry, a 

 standard biography; Three Men of Letters and 

 Glimpses of England. 



TYLER, WAT ( ? -1381), an English soldier 

 and rebel, born in Colchester in the County 

 of Essex, England, of obscure origin, who was 

 selected as leader of what became known as 

 Wat Tyler's Rebellion. At that time the con- 

 dition of laborers in England was hard. They 

 were oppressed and overtaxed; the further im- 

 position of a poll tax on the overburdened peo- 

 ple roused great discontent, and riots broke 

 out. Tyler, as leader of an undisciplined mob, 

 sacked the palace of the archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, beheaded three citizens and marched to- 



