John Tyler Takes Command
John Tyler was the first vice president to succeed to the presidency due to death. Tyler set precedents for future vice presidents, despite the Constitution’s ambiguity regarding the matter.
On April 4, 1841, President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after being in office for only one month. This ended the shortest presidency in U.S. history, and it marked the first time in which a president did not complete his term. This raised important questions about the process of presidential succession.
The Constitutional Ambiguity
According to Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 6 of the Constitution, “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President.” Some believed this meant that Vice President John Tyler should assume the powers and duties of president, but not the title of “president.” Others believed that Tyler should assume the powers, duties, and title.
Based on debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, most historians believe that the founders intended for the vice president to merely assume the powers and duties of the president, not the title, until a special election could be held to select a new president.
As President Harrison lay dying, his cabinet decided that Vice President Tyler should become the “vice president acting president.” Tyler would serve the remainder of Harrison’s term largely as a figurehead, essentially becoming just another cabinet member. For all executive decisions, the cabinet and Tyler would each have one vote, and a majority vote would prevail.
Tyler’s Bold Move
John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket, even though his views were more in line with the Democratic Party. Being a southerner, the Whigs had nominated Tyler to garner southern votes. The Democrats feared that Tyler would fall under Whig influence, while the Whigs feared that Tyler would betray them and go with the Democrats. The Whig fears proved to be well founded.
Upon Harrison’s death, messengers summoned Tyler from his Williamsburg home to Washington. Tyler secretly met with Harrison’s cabinet at the Brown’s Indian Queen Hotel, where the cabinet members unveiled their plan for him. To their shock, Tyler had a bold plan of his own: he intended not only to assume the full powers and duties of the president, but to assume the title of “president” as well. Fearing that opposing Tyler would have political consequences, the cabinet reluctantly agreed to allow him to become the official president.
In a show of force to the cabinet and the people, Tyler insisted on taking the presidential oath of office. Tyler’s insistence on claiming “the right to a fully functioning and empowered presidency instead of relinquishing the office or accepting limits on his powers,” coupled with taking the oath, set a precedent for future presidential successions. In addition, Tyler decided to keep Harrison’s cabinet; this set another precedent in which successors maintained their predecessors’ cabinet members.
Tyler’s Legitimacy Questioned
After declaring himself the new president in both title and responsibility, John Tyler now had to convince members of Congress and the people that he was indeed the new president. Many were not so certain.
Several newspapers questioned the legitimacy of Tyler’s claim to the presidency since he was not popularly elected to that position. But to Tyler’s advantage, no major newspaper called for a special election to fill Harrison’s void. On April 9, 1841, Tyler delivered what he called his “inaugural address,” and from then on, more and more people began accepting him as the new president.
Some, especially members of Congress, were still skeptical. Tyler was often referred to as the “acting president” or even “his accidency” by opponents. But Tyler maintained his assertion that he was the full president. When correspondence came to the White House addressed to the “Vice President” or “Acting President,” Tyler returned them unopened.
Democrats feared that Henry Clay, the Whig leader in Congress, would make Tyler his “pliant tool.” Therefore, Tyler spent the next two months trying to convince Congress that he was his own man. On June 1, both houses of Congress passed a resolution recognizing that John Tyler was indeed the tenth U.S. president.
Expulsion and Impeachment
Having been elected on a Whig ticket, the leading Whigs in Congress expected Tyler to endorse their agenda just as Harrison would have done had he lived. However, Tyler shocked the Whigs by vetoing virtually their entire program, including Clay’s beloved national banking system. Tyler may have been willing to compromise, but when Clay derided him on the Senate floor, Tyler vetoed a second bill chartering a national bank.
Eventually, the entire cabinet resigned in protest of Tyler’s vetoes. Tyler was also expelled from the Whig Party, and Congress began debating measures diminishing presidential power such as term limits and veto restrictions. The House of Representatives even initiated impeachment proceedings against Tyler.
In January 1843, Congressman John M. Botts of Virginia introduced nine articles of impeachment against “John Tyler, Vice President acting as President,” which included corruption, misconduct, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. When Tyler agreed to compromise on some Whig measures, the House voted 127 to 83 against impeachment. Nevertheless, this marked the first time that the House had considered such an action.
There were many firsts during and after the presidency of John Tyler. Tyler was the first president whom the House considered impeaching. Tyler was the first to have a veto overridden by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress. And when Tyler died during the Civil War, he was the first and only president not to be honored by the U.S., having voiced support for the Confederacy.
The Precedent of Presidential Succession
John Tyler’s bold assumption of the full title and duties of president after Harrison’s death set the precedent for future successions. As a result, when President Zachary Taylor died in office just nine years later, it was generally accepted that Vice President Millard Fillmore would assume the presidency. Many of Tyler’s actions were later codified in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment regarding presidential succession, which removed any ambiguity that may have remained.
