John Tyler

John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790, in Charles City County, Virginia, into a prominent family that owned slaves. His father, John Tyler Sr., was a personal and political associate of Thomas Jefferson, served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, governor of Virginia, and a federal judge. His mother was Mary Marot (Armistead) Tyler, daughter of a plantation owner. Tyler was educated at the College of William and Mary, graduating in 1807 at age 17, and later studied law under his father and Edmund Randolph.

At age 19, Tyler was admitted to the Virginia bar. He began a legal practice in Richmond and inherited enslaved persons and plantation land upon his father's death in 1813. He owned at least 24 enslaved individuals by 1820.

Tyler's political career began in Virginia, where he was elected to the House of Delegates at age 21 in 1811. He served five one-year terms, advocating for states' rights and opposing a national bank. During the War of 1812, he organized militia troops and held the rank of captain. Following his father's death in 1813, Tyler inherited additional slaves and property.

In 1816, Tyler resigned from the legislature to serve on Virginia's Governor's Council of State. Later that year, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican, representing Virginia’s 23rd district. He held conservative views on federal power, favoring states' rights and opposing internal improvements funded by the federal government.

Tyler's political alignment shifted during the 1820s. Originally a Jacksonian Democrat, he opposed President Andrew Jackson during the nullification crisis, criticizing Jackson’s expansion of executive power. This stance aligned him with the southern faction of the Whig Party, which opposed Jacksonian policies.

In 1836, Tyler was the Virginia state legislator and gubernatorial candidate, and he served as a U.S. senator. He was the Whig vice-presidential candidate in the 1836 election. In 1840, Tyler was the sole nominee for vice president on the Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison. The Harrison-Tyler ticket campaigned successfully with the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," defeating Martin Van Buren.

William Henry Harrison died just 31 days after taking office in 1841, making Tyler the first vice president to succeed to the presidency. His assumption of office set the precedent for presidential succession. Tyler's presidency was marked by a strict interpretation of executive power; he vetoed several Whig bills, including those for a national bank and tariff increases, believing that policy should be set by the president. As a result, most his cabinet resigned, and the Whig Party expelled him, branding him "His Accidency." Tyler was the first U.S. president whose vetoes of legislation were overruled by Congress.

Although his domestic policy was stalemated, Tyler achieved notable foreign policy successes, including the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with China. He supported Manifest Destiny and signed a bill to annex Texas shortly before leaving office.

In the aftermath of the Civil War's outbreak in 1861, Tyler initially favored peace efforts but ultimately sided with the Confederacy after the failure of the Peace Conference. He presided over the Virginia Secession Convention, served as a member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, but he died in 1862 before serving in that capacity.

Throughout history, Tyler has been regarded variably in presidential rankings, with some acknowledgment of his role in key treaties and anti-slavery efforts, though he remains a comparatively obscure figure in American cultural memory.