author
John Tyler
1790–1862
Thrown into the presidency by a sudden crisis, this Virginia statesman set a lasting precedent when he insisted that a vice president who succeeds a dead president is fully the president, not just an acting stand-in. His turbulent years in office also helped push the United States toward the annexation of Texas.
1 Audiobook
State of the Union Addresses
by John Tyler
About the author
Born in Charles City County, Virginia, in 1790, John Tyler studied at the College of William and Mary, trained as a lawyer, and built a long political career that included service in the Virginia legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, the governorship of Virginia, and the U.S. Senate. He came from a prominent Virginia family and was known for his strong belief in states' rights and limited federal power.
Tyler became the tenth president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died only a month into his term. By firmly claiming the full powers of the office, he established an important precedent for presidential succession. His presidency was often stormy: he broke with the Whig Party that had elected him, lost much of his cabinet, and spent much of his term politically isolated. Even so, his administration is closely associated with the drive to annex Texas, which was approved just before he left office in 1845.
After the presidency, Tyler returned to Virginia. In the final crisis before the Civil War, he supported Southern secession and was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, though he died in Richmond in 1862 before taking his seat. That complicated final chapter has made him one of the more controversial figures among early American presidents.