 |
John Tyler
b. 29 Mar 1790, Greenway, Charles City County, Virginia
d. 18 Jan 1862, Richmond, Virginia |
| Title: |
President of the United States |
| Term: |
4 Apr 1841 - 4 Mar 1845 |
| Chronology: |
10 Feb 1841,
election to the office of Vice President of the United States is declared upon counting electoral votes (cast 1 Dec 1840),
joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, House Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [1] |
|
4 Mar 1841,
commencement of term |
|
4 Mar 1841,
took the oath prescribed by law, special session of the Senate, Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [2] |
|
4 Apr 1841,
entered upon the duties of the office of President of the United States upon the death of an incumbent [3][4] |
|
6 Apr 1841,
took an oath of office as President of the United States, private ceremony, Brown's Indian Queen Hotel, Washington, D.C. [5] |
|
4 Mar 1845,
expiration of term |
| Biography: |
| Second son of John Tyler, Sr., Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1 Dec 1808 - 15 Jan 1811); attended private schools and graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1807; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1809 and commenced practice in Charles City County; captain of a military company in 1813; member, House of Delegates of Virginia (1811-1816, 1823-1825, 1839); member of the Council of State in 1816; elected as a Republican to the 14th through 16th Congresses (served 16 Dec 1817 - 4 Mar 1821); Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (10 Dec 1825 - 4 Mar 1827); elected (1827, 1833) to the US Senate (served 4 Mar 1827 - 29 Feb 1836); served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the 23rd Congress; resigned his seat in the US Senate to protest against the policy of President Andrew Jackson; member of the constitutional convention of Virginia in 1829 and 1830; elected Vice President of the United States on the Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison in 1840; entered upon the duties of office 4 Mar 1841 and served until the death of President Harrison on 4 Apr 1841; assumed the presidency (4 Apr 1841); rejecting the views of Whig party, vetoed a new national bank bill causing resignation of the Cabinet; Whig caucus declared all party ties with Tyler dissolved on 13 Sep 1841; reorganized the U.S. Navy; established the U.S. Weather Bureau; accomplished the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) in Florida; quieted Dorr's Rebellion (1842) in Rhode Island; initiated the annexation of Texas; did not seek reelection; delegate to and president of the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress (1861-1862); elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress, but died on 18 Jan 1862, before the assembling of the Congress. |
| Biographical sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (2005). |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Electoral vote (1 Dec 1840) |
| John Tyler |
234 |
| Richard Mentor Johnson |
48 |
| Littleton Walter Tazewell |
11 |
| James Knox Polk |
1 |
| total number of electors appointed |
294 |
| number of votes for a majority |
148 |
|
| Source of electoral results: Congressional Globe, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, 160.
|
| |
| [1] |
Congressional Globe, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, 159-160. |
| [2] |
Congressional Globe, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, 231-232. |
| [3] |
Daily National Intelligencer, Washington: Monday, April 5, 1841. |
| [4] |
Johh Tyler was notified of the death of President Harrison in his estate, Sherwood Forest, near Williamsburg, Virginia, at sunrise on 5 Apr 1841. He arrived in Washington, D.C., at about 04:00 6 Apr 1841 and despite some concerns raised by Cabinet members over his right to assume the functions of President took an oath of office administered by Chief Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. An effort "to address Tyler officially in correspondence as 'Vice President, on whom, by the death of the late President, the powers and duties of the office of President have devolved' failed to pass in the House of Representatives (31 May 1841) and the Senate (1 Jun 1841). See Congressional Globe, 27th Congress, 1st Session, 1-5. |
| [5] |
Daily National Intelligencer, Washington: Wednesday, April 7, 1841, p. 3, col. 1. |
|
Image: photograph of John Tyler (created between ca. 1860 and 1865), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. |
