the whig national convention which met at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to nominate candidates for president and vice-president of the United States. It is well known that Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, was the favorite candidate of the delegates from the southern states, in that convention. The course of Mr. Clay in the senate, on many occasions, particularly in bringing about a settlement of the controversy respecting the tariff and South Carolina nullification, had rendered him popular with the state-rights section of the whigs, and they were anxious for his nomination to the presidency. In this feeling Mr. Tyler warmly participated, with all the Virginia delegation. He was chosen one of the vice-presidents of the convention, and exerted his influence in favor of Mr. Clay. General Harrison, however, was nominated for president, and Mr. Tyler was among those who expressed their deep regrets at the defeat of Mr. Clay as a candidate. The question of a candidate for president had so much absorbed the attention of the whigs, that the subject of a candidate for vice-president had attracted but little attention. When General Harrison was nominated for the first office, it became necessary, in the judgment of the delegates, to take a candidate for vice-president from the south, and, after a brief consultation, the nomination was offered to Mr. Tyler, and accepted. As he was an ardent friend of Mr. Clay, it was supposed that this nomination would be popular with the friends of that gentleman, under the feelings of disappointment with which it was anticipated they would receive the nomination of General Harrison. Had the event of Mr. Tyler's succession to the presidency been contemplated, it can not be doubted that a scrutiny of his principles, and the remembrance of his course and action on cherished whig measures, would have caused more hesitancy in placing him on the presidential ticket, if not his prompt rejection, by the whig convention. The speeches, letters, and declarations of Mr. Tyler, during the canvass of 1840, were generally satisfactory to the whigs, and gave reasonable expectation that he would co-operate with General Harrison and Mr. Clay in carrying out the wishes of the whig party, if successful in the election. The triumph of the whigs, which elevated General Harrison to the presidency, Mr. Tyler to the vice-presidency, and secured a whig majority in both houses of Congress, we have elsewhere related in this volume. It only remains to mention, in this place, that the sudden and lamented death of President Harrison, in one month after his inauguration, devolved upon Mr. Tyler, in April, 1841, the high and responsible duties of president of the United States. The events of the succeeding four years will be found in our history of his administration. There can be no doubt that Mr. Tyler mistook his position in attempting to act with the whig party, and in accepting their nomination for one of the highest offices in the nation, which, by the dispensation of Providence, placed him in the presidential chair, clothed with the power and patronage of that high station. That the whigs also acted without due reflection, in his nomination, is alike evident; and from these two causes flowed the consequences which resulted in the embarrassment, difficulties, and total loss of popularity with both the great parties of the country, on the one side, of the president, and bitter disappointment and chagrin on the part of the whigs. In person, Mr. Tyler is rather tall and thin, with light complexion, blue eyes, and prominent features. His manners are plain and affable, and in private life he is amiable, hospitable, and courteous. His errors as a politician are ascribed, by some, to a want of judgment, to an inordinate vanity, and the influence of bad advice; to which may be added, extreme obstinacy in persisting in opinions once formed, without regard to consequences. In 1813, at the age of twenty-three, Mr. Tyler married a lady about his own age, Miss Letitia Christian, daughter of Robert Christian, Esq., of New Kent county, Virginia. She was a lady much esteemed by her acquaintances, as a wife, a mother, a friend, and a Christian, being for many years a member of the episcopal church. . She died at Washington, September 10, 1842, leaving three sons and three daughters. While president of the United States, Mr. Tyler was again married, to Miss Julia Gardiner, of New York, daughter of the late David Gardiner, Esq., of that city, who was killed by an explosion on board the steamship Princeton, in February, 1844. The marriage of the president took place at New York, on the 26th of June, 1844. Since his retirement from the presidency, Mr. Tyler has resided at his seat near Williamsburg, Virginia. ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER. IN consequence of the decease of William H. Harrison, president of the United States, on the 4th of April, 1841, being one month after his inauguration, the duties of the executive office devolved upon John Tyler, the vice-president, elected at the same time with President Harrison. Immediately after the decease of the president, Mr. Fletcher Webster, chief clerk in the department of state, accompanied by Mr. Beall, an officer of the senate, set out for the residence of the vice-president, in Virginia, bearing to him the following letter: "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1841. "TO JOHN TYLER, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:— "SIR: It has become our most painful duty to inform you that William Henry Harrison, late president of the United States, has departed this life. "This distressing event took place this day, at the president's mansion, in this city, at thirty minutes before one, in the morning. "We lose no time in despatching the chief clerk in the state department, as a special messenger to bear you the melancholy tidings. "We have the honor to be, with the highest regard your obedient ser vants. "DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State, "JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, Attorney-General, "FRANCIS GRANGER, Postmaster-General." By the extraordinary despatch used in sending the official intelligence to the vice-president, at Williamsburg, and a similar despatch by him in repairing to the seat of government, Mr. Tyler arrived in Washington on Tuesday morning, the 6th of April, at four o'clock, and took lodgings at Brown's hotel. At twelve o'clock all the heads of departments, with the exception of the secretary of the navy, Mr. Badger, who was then absent on a visit to his family, waited upon President Tyler, to pay him their official and personal respects. They were received by him with politeness and kindness. He signified his deep feeling of the public calamity sustained by the death of President Harrison, and expressed his profound sensibility to the heavy responsibilities so suddenly devolved upon himself. He spoke of the present state of things with great concern and seriousness, and made known his wishes that the several heads of departments would continue to fill the places which they then respectively occupied; and expressed his confidence that they would afford all the aid in their power to enable him to carry on the administration of the government successfully. The president then took and subscribed the following oath of office :"I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve. protect, and defend, the constitution of the United States. "April 6, 1841." "JOHN TYLER. "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, SS. "I, William Cranch, chief judge of the circuit court of the District of Columbia, certify that the above-named John Tyler personally appeared before me this day, and although he deems himself qualified to perform the duties and exercise the powers and office of president, on the death of William Henry Harrison, late president of the United States, without any other oath than that which he has taken as vice-president, yet, as doubts may arise, and for greater caution, took and subscribed the foregoing oath before me. 66 April 6, 1841." "W. CRANCH. On the following day, the new president attended the funeral of President Harrison, taking the place assigned him in the procession, following the heads of departments, after the family and relations of the late president. Two days after this solemn pageant was over, an inaugural address to the people of the United States, which will be found in the preceding pages, was issued by President Tyler, through the public press; the principles of which address gave general satisfaction. Although some of the expressions were somewhat ambiguous, the whig party was relieved from anxiety by the general tone and sentiments of the address; and confidence was felt that the president would co-operate with the majority of Congress in carrying out the views and desires of those by whom he had been elected. There were those, however, among the prominent whigs (of whom the late Hon. Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey, and then president of the senate pro tem., was one), who had long known Mr. Tyler, and carefully observed his course in the councils of the nation, who apprehended that he would carry with him into the presidency his peculiar notions of a strict construction of the constitution, imbibed in the Virginia school of democracy, involving principles which, if carried out, would prove repugnant to the views of public policy entertained by the whig party, and defeat measures which they deemed necessary to restore the prosperity of the country. Nor were these apprehensions allayed, even when Mr. Tyler was understood to have said, on his arrival at Washington, after the death of Harrison, "You have but exchanged one whig for another." The cabinet which had been appointed by General Harrison, was retained by President Tyler, namely, Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, secretary of state; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, secretary of the treasury; John Bell, of Tennessee, secretary of war; George E. Badger, of North Carolina, secretary of the navy; Francis Granger, of New York, postmaster-general; John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, attorney-general. The retention of this cabinet, distinguished for its ability and for its possession of the confidence of the whig party, tended to confirm the feelings of hope and confidence inspired by the inaugural address of President Tyler. In conformity with the general feelings of sorrow and regret which pervaded the public mind on the death of the chief magistrate of the nation, his successor recommended a day of fasting and prayer, to be observed by the people of the United States. cessor. In entering upon the duties of the office of president, Mr. Tyler did not feel (to use his own words, in his message to Congress) that it would be becoming in him to disturb what had been ordered by his lamented predeHe therefore concurred in the measure which had been adopted by President Harrison, of convening Congress in extra session on the 31st of May. "His own first wish," he stated, "in the circumstances in which he was so unexpectedly placed, would have been, to have called to his aid, in the administration of public affairs, the combined wisdom of the two houses of Congress, in order to take their counsel and advice as to the best mode of extricating the government and the country from the embarrassments weighing heavily on both." After the call of the extra session, and previous to the meeting, members of Congress were elected in the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The state of Mississippi was not represented at the extra session, as no special election was ordered, and the annual election in that state took place in the month of November following. The members from Illinois were elected at the annual election in August, and took their seats in the house during the session. The result of the elections at this time were equally favorable to the whig party with those which took place in 1840, immediately preceding the presidential election. The majority in favor of the new administration in the 27th Congress, according to the returns of members elect, was seven in the senate, and one vacancy; and about fifty in the house of representatives. The hopes of the democratic incumbents in office, which were awa |