Tippecanoe and Tyler too

John Tyler

I mentioned in the previous post that one of Sharon's ancestors has a connection with John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States. Family rumor had it that Lucy Tyler Cash was John Tyler's aunt. The evidence for this is sketchy, but the story provides the tie. 

I don't know about you, but pretty much the only thing that comes to mind when I think of Tyler is the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." This is probably because, like many people I know, social studies was one of those courses I endured during junior high and high school, and I didn't pay a lot of attention to anything that I didn't think would show up on a test. What I did learn for the test was promptly forgotten.

Turns out I should have paid more attention, though I'm not sure we learned a whole lot about Tyler in those American history texts of the '60s.

Tyler was born on a Virginia plantation and held a degree from the College of William and Mary, the nation's second oldest institution of higher learning after Harvard. He began his political career early, winning election to the state legislature at the age of 21. After serving five years, he sought and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of Thomas Jefferson's party, the Democratic-Republicans, serving four years. From there he went back to the Virginia lege and then became governor of the state. Then he gained election to the U.S. Senate.

He was devoted to states rights, and his bio at whitehouse.gov describes him as a strict constructionist as regards the Constitution. As such he firmly opposed any expansion of the federal government's powers. Never a big fan of Andrew Jackson's policies, he wound up resigning from the Senate and his party over a dispute involving a censure of Jackson. 

Shortly after he joined the Whig party, which opposed Jackson. In 1840 the Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison to run against Democrat Martin Van Buren and asked Tyler to run for vice president. Harrison hailed from Ohio, and Tyler's southern affiliation and political views gave the ticket broad national appeal.

That famous slogan I mentioned above made reference to Harrison's participation in a successful battle at Tippecanoe against American Indians in Indiana. Turns out a song by the same name as the slogan became quite a popular ditty during the campaign, and some sources credit the song with contributing to the success of the campaign. Strangely the group They Might Be Giants recorded the song (using their own instrumental arrangement but the original words) of the song in 2004. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFaRklAYanY

Harrison and Tyler won, of course, but Tyler didn't think much of his position and went back to Virginia. A month after the inauguration, Tyler was awakened at home with the news that Harrison had died of pneumonia. 

At this time, the line of succession for the presidential office had not been established. Some thought the VP should become the new prez, others thought the VP became acting president. Tyler solved the dispute by returning to Washington, moving into the White House and having himself sworn in as president. He even gave an inaugural address. For his efforts, he was mocked with the title "His Accidency."

He soon antagonized his cabinet, all but one of whom resigned, and the entire Whig Party, which voted to eject him from the party. The Democrats wouldn't have him back, and a big to run again as an independent failed. He returned to Virginia, where he attempted to broker peace between the North and South. We all know how that turned out. He voted to support secession and was elected as a representative of the Confederate House of Representatives but died before being sword in. 

Some of his accomplishments while in office:

• Signed the Pre-Emption Act, which spurred Western settlement by allowing a person to stake a claim on 160 acres of public land and purchase it from the government
• Ended the Seminole War in Florida
• Signed the first treaty with China, which allowed the U.S. access to Asian ports
• Settled a border dispute with Canada, including setting the border between Maine and Canada
• And signed the bills that brought Texas and Florida into the U.S. as states.

He also scored several firsts. He was the first president:

• Whose wife died while in he was in office
• To marry (his second wife) while in office
• To have his veto of legislation overridden by Congress
• And to have a resolution of impeachment filed against him, which accused him of being “utterly unworthy and unfit to have the destinies of this nation in his hands.” A committee reported the resolution favorably, but the full House failed to approve it.

And a couple of other notables:

• With his two wives, he had 15 children, more than any other president.
• When he died, President Lincoln refused to issue an official proclamation marking his death -- that dying while part of the Confederacy thing.
•  The New York Times, at the time of his death, called him “the most unpopular public man that had ever held any office in the United States”
• Adding insult to injury, Harry Truman said Tyler was “one of the presidents we could have done without.” And Theodore Roosevelt said, “He has been called a mediocre man; but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monumental littleness.”

He consistently ranks in the bottom of presidential ranking lists.

Like I said in the last post, sometimes familial connections aren't always brag-worthy