The Forgotten, Great President


How many people know who the 10th President is? How many of you know why he is important? If you are able to raise your hand, then congrats. John Tyler was the first Vice President to become President as a result of inability to serve. as in death. He succeeded William Henry Harrison, the great war hero of the War of 1812. You think President Obama’s challenges were hard when he got inaugurated, think about President Tyler. When he assumed office, most of America didn’t think he was legally President. President Tyler had a constitutional crisis, and got the nickname of “His Accidency.” So what did President Tyler do? He faced the crisis head on, said he was President and legally at that. When protesters were at the White House, he armed the waiters. He went into battle and one. He had confidence and believed in himself even as a nation turned against him. Turns out what President Tyler was pretty good, his precedent turned into law with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Now President Tyler had a fall from his so-called grace. President Tyler was still alive, but hardly kicking, at the time of the Civil War. When his home state of Virginia succeeded and joined the Confederacy, so went the President. John Tyler ran and won a seat in the Confederate States of America House of Representatives. John Tyler died before he could get inaugurated. The United States did not recognize the death of John Tyler and he did not get a Presidential memorial. However, the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, gave a speech at President Tyler’s funeral.

John Tyler had always had a unique life. When he started a local militia in the War of 1812, his militia waited and waited, but did not get any action. There is also a legend that when John Tyler was a boy, his one schoolteacher was very strict and angry. Then, John Tyler and his schoolmates ganged together and tied up the teacher, Mr. John McMurdo. When Mr. McMurdo informed John Tyler’s father, who as a judge at the time, Judge Tyler dismissed it. He used the latin quote of “Sic Semper Tyrannius,” or down with the tyrants. Coincidentally, “Sic Semper Tyrannius” was, and still is, the official quote of Virginia.

Now, remember today is President’s Day. There are forty-four Presidents. Take some time to learn about the other Presidents. All of them have interesting stories and a lasting impact on the United States of America.


About Tyler

Tyler is the chief media reporter for TKNN, with the news organization since its founding in November of 2010. He has previously served as chief political reporter and chief political anchor for TKNN.

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