What was John Tyler doing when he was informed that he was the president?

Answer 1

John Tyler, the first vice president to replace a sitting president, established a pattern that was followed for well over a century. Until the "Tyler Precedent," it was unclear precisely how the nation would replace a president who died in office.

The Vice Presidency Was Considered UnimportantFor the first five decades of the United States, the vice presidency was not considered a vitally important office. While the first two vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were later elected president, they both found the vice presidency to be a frustrating position.

In the controversial election of 1800, when Jefferson became president, Aaron Burr became vice president. Burr is the best-known vice president of the early 1800s, though he is mainly remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel while vice president.

Some vice presidents took the job's one defined duty, presiding over the Senate, quite seriously. Others were said to hardly care about it.

Martin Van Buren's vice president, Richard Mentor Johnson, had a very relaxed view of the job. He owned a tavern in his home state of Kentucky, and while vice president he took a lengthy leave of absence from Washington to go home and run his tavern.

The man who followed Johnson in the office, John Tyler, was the first vice president to show how important the person in the job could become.

A Vice President Receives Tragic NewsJohn Tyler had started his political career as a Jeffersonian Republican, serving in the Virginia legislature and as the state's governor. He eventually was elected to the US Senate, and when he became an opponent of Andrew Jackson's policies he resigned his Senate seat in 1836 and switched parties, becoming a Whig.

Tyler was tapped as the running mate of Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in 1840. The legendary "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign was fairly free of issues, and Tyler's name was featured in the legendary campaign slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!"

Harrison was elected, caught a cold at his inauguration which developed into pneumonia, and died on April 4, 1841, a month after taking office. Vice president John Tyler, at home in Virginia and unaware of the president's illness, was informed that the president had died.

The Constitution Was Unclear On the Issue of SuccessionTyler returned to Washington, thinking that he was the President of the United States. But he was informed that the Constitution wasn't precisely clear about that.

The relevant wording in the Constitution, in Article II, section 1, said: "In case of removal of the President from office, or of his death, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President…"

The question arose: what did the framers mean by the word "same"? Did it mean the presidency itself, or merely duties of the office? In other words, in the event of a president's death, would the vice president become an acting president, and not actually the president?

Back in Washington, Tyler found himself being referred to as "the vice president, acting as president." Critics referred to him as "His Accidency."

Tyler, who was staying at a Washington hotel (there was no vice presidential residence until modern times), summoned Harrison's cabinet. The cabinet informed Tyler that he was not actually the president, and any decisions he would make in office would have to be approved by them.

John Tyler Holds His Ground"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," Tyler said. "I am sure I am very glad to have in my cabinet such able statesmen as you have proved yourselves to be, and I shall be pleased to avail myself of your counsel and advice, but I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as president, will be responsible for my administration. I hope to have your cooperation in carrying out its measures. So long as you see fit to do this I shall be glad to have you with me. When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted."

Tyler thus claimed the full powers of the presidency. And the members of his cabinet backed down from their threat. A compromise suggested by Daniel Webster, the secretary of state, was that Tyler would take the oath of office, and would then be the president.

After the oath was administered, all the officers of the government accepted that Tyler was the president and possessed the full powers of the office.

The taking of the oath thus came to be seen as the moment when a vice president becomes president.

John Tyler's Rough Term In OfficeA headstrong individual, Tyler clashed mightily with the Congress and with his own cabinet, and his single term in office was very rocky.

Tyler's cabinet changed several times. And he became estranged from the Whigs and was essentially a president without a party. His one noteworthy achievement as president would have been the annexation of Texas, but the Senate, out of spite, delayed that until the next president, James K. Polk, could take credit for it.

The Tyler Precedent Is EstablishedThe presidency of John Tyler was most significant for the way it began. By establishing the "Tyler Precedent," he ensured that future vice presidents would not become acting presidents with restricted authority.

It was under the Tyler Precedent that the following vice presidents became president:

• Millard Fillmore, following the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850
• Andrew Johnson, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865
• Chester Alan Arthur, following the assassination of James Garfield in 1881
• Theodore Roosevelt, following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901
• Calvin Coolidge, following the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923
• Harry Truman, following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945
• Lyndon B. Johnson, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963

Tyler's action was affirmed by the 25th Amendment, which was ratified in 1967.

After serving his term in office, Tyler returned to Virginia. He remained politically active, and sought to forestall the Civil War. When efforts to avoid war failed, he was elected to the Confederate congress, but died in January 1862, before he could take his seat.

Answer 2

One problem that John Tyler faced when assuming the Presidency was that his cabinet resigned. Another problem was that he was removed from the Whig Party.

Answer 3

He was playing marbles when informed that he had become president upon the death of Harrison

Answer 4

The president before John Tyler was president William Harison he died after 4 weeks of being president