No president is perfect, but from the perspective of liberty John Tyler was surely one of the better ones.
John Tyler remains an often-forgotten President. Some may know of him as the Vice President who ascended to the executive office following the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841, the first VP to do so. More astute history buffs may recall that he was famously (or infamously, depending upon one’s interpretation) expelled from his own Whig Party after opposing several of their proposed bills. But I contend that John Tyler’s unorthodox tenure as Chief Executive can provide meaningful lessons for Americans today, especially in his understanding of government power and public duty.
‘His Accidency’ Ascendant
After Harrison’s untimely death merely a month into his term, freshly-minted President Tyler asserted his new position in his April 9, 1841, Address Upon Assuming the Office of President of the United States. In this speech to the American public, which amounted to Tyler’s equivalent of an inaugural address, he stated that “a brief exposition of the principles which will govern me in the general course of my administration of public affairs would seem to be due myself as well as to you.” What followed was a striking regard for the Constitution, limited government, and duty to uphold public virtue.
Foreign Affairs and Guiding Principles
Echoing Thomas Jefferson’s famed assertion of “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none,” John Tyler declared similar goals for his own administration. He insisted:
In regard to foreign nations, the groundwork of my policy will be justice on our part to all, submitting to injustice from none. While I shall sedulously cultivate the relations of peace and amity with one and all, it will be my most imperative duty to see that the honor of the country shall sustain no blemish.
Tyler ultimately put his perspective on foreign affairs into action as he oversaw the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which resolved border disputes between the United States and British Canada. This was a meaningful application of his principles, and the Tyler administration also later succeeded in formally opening trade with China, as well as in arranging the annexation of Texas after that Republic’s efforts to join the Union.
The Executive Branch: Serving the Republic, Not Party
President Tyler also sought to rein in the potential for abuse by the executive branch. He stated his perspective, as a seeming watchdog of centralized power, that “the tendency of all human institutions is to concentrate power in the hands of a single man, and that their ultimate downfall has proceeded from this cause.” Foremost in his crosshairs were the issues of patronage or “spoils” appointments of loyal partisans into the bureaucracy, and the corrupt system this would entail. These issues had taken on particular concern following the chaotic hiring and firing practices of the Jackson administration and the ascension of many loyal Democrats around Old Hickory.
Tyler was clear about the threats posed by an “army of officeholders.” He believed that the formation of a federal bureaucracy which was mostly beholden to the aims of a “selfishly ambitious man” would be in a conflict of interest and would therefore violate the law and uphold its own power. In response, he proposed that he would “remove no incumbent from office who has faithfully and honestly acquitted himself of the duties of his office, except in such cases where such officer has been guilty of an act of partisanship or by secret means.” The Tenth President asserted that under this policy some removals would of course be necessary, but that “my conduct will be regulated by a profound sense of what is due to the country and its institutions.” Tyler provided a firm message to the federal bureaucrats of his day: “Freedom of opinion will be tolerated, the full enjoyment of the suffrage will be maintained as the birthright of every American citizen; but I say emphatically to the official corps, ‘Thus far and no farther.’”
Public Finance and Sound Money
President Tyler continued his statement of principles by commenting on the realm of government spending, revenue, and the currency. He thus stated his view: “In all public expenditures the most rigid economy should be resorted to, and, as one of its results, a public debt in time of peace should be sedulously avoided.” Amid ongoing economic issues in the early 1840s, Tyler addressed uncertainties about American money by stating, “The public interest demands that if any war has existed between the Government and the currency it shall cease.” He cemented his position in favor of sound money by noting, “I shall promptly give my sanction to any constitutional measure which, originating in Congress, shall have for its object the restoration of a sound circulating medium.” Here Tyler can be seen to champion the public interest of Americans as he understood it: economical government and a stable currency, all within the confines of constitutionally permitted laws.
Conclusions
So, what can we learn from President John Tyler’s 1841 address? Most obviously, that his clearly defined principles diverge sharply from what many Americans are used to today. In our own era when more recent Presidents have issued numerous executive orders to implement their agendas, bragged about having a “phone and a pen” to legislate without Congress, and generally accrued much more power at the federal level, Tyler’s perspective appears at once refreshing and commendable.
Tyler seemed to recognize and champion limits on power where most in our current political class do not. In the realm of foreign affairs, he advocated a much more even-handed approach than the highly interventionist American government does today. As the federal budget and bureaucracies have expanded to where they are, perhaps we would do well to consider John Tyler’s perspective of federal appointments and a limited executive branch. And as the current US government regularly overspends, overtaxes, and overinflates, perhaps we could benefit from Tyler-like attitudes on limited government spending and sound money. In short, perhaps all Americans can add new depth to how we perceive many of our modern political problems by studying the Virginia statesman who favored the Constitution, sought the example of the “fathers of the great republican school” who crafted it, and confided in “the protecting care of an ever watchful and overruling Providence.” While “His Accidency” was not a perfect man, as no Chief Executive has been, I contend that he undoubtedly ranks among the very best Presidents, and that we could learn much from his example in 2024 America.
