Tenth President John Tyler was born MARCH 29, 1790.
John
Tyler was the first Vice-President to assume the Presidency when
William Henry Harrison died after only one month in office.
In his first address, April 9, President John Tyler stated:
"For
the first time in our history the person elected to the Vice-Presidency
of the United States...has had devolved upon him the Presidential
office...
My earnest prayer shall be constantly addressed to the
All-wise and All-powerful Being who made me, and by whose dispensation I
am called to the high office of President...
Confiding in the
protecting care of an ever-watchful and overruling Providence, it shall
be my first and highest duty to preserve unimpaired the free
institutions under which we live and transmit them to those who shall
succeed me."
President John Tyler's first act, April 13, 1841, was to proclaim a National Day of Fasting and Prayer:
"When
a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great public
calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the dispensation of
Divine Providence,
to recognize His righteous
government over the children of men, to acknowledge His goodness in time
past, as well as their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful
protection for the future..."
Tyler continued:
"The
people of the United States of every religious denomination
that...according to their several modes and forms of worship...observe a
day of fasting and prayer by such religious services...
to the end that on that day we may all with one accord join in humble and reverential approach to Him in whose hands we are,
invoking
Him to inspire us with a proper spirit and temper of heart and mind
under these frowns of His providence and still to bestow His gracious
benedictions upon our Government and our country."
A Democrat, President John Tyler vetoed a Federal Bank Bill, August 16, 1841:
"An
act to incorporate the subscribers to the Fiscal Bank of the United
States...has been considered by me...I can not conscientiously give it
my approval...
I took an oath that I would 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.'...
I
could not give my sanction to a measure of the character described
without surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men, all
confidence on the part of the people, all self-respect, all regard for
moral and religious obligations...."
Tyler continued:
"Let the history of
the late United States Bank aid us in answering this inquiry...
The
immense transactions of the bank in the purchase of exchange...in the
line of discounts the suspended debt was enormous and proved most
disastrous to the bank and the country.
Its power of local discount has in fact
proved to be a fruitful source of favoritism and corruption, alike destructive to the public morals and to the general weal."
In his 2nd Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1842, President John Tyler stated:
"We
have continued reason to express our profound gratitude to the Great
Creator of All Things for the numberless benefits conferred upon us as a
people...
Such are the circumstances...lead us to unite in
praise and thanksgiving to that Great Being who made us and who
preserves us as a nation....
The schoolmaster and the missionary are found side by side."
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In December 1843, in his Third Annual Message to Congress, President John Tyler stated:
"If
any people ever had cause to render up thanks to the Supreme Being for
parental care and protection...we certainly are that people.
From
the first settlement of our forefathers on the continent, through the
dangers attendant upon the occupation of a savage wilderness, through a
long period of colonial dependence, through the War of the Revolution...
it
becomes us humbly to acknowledge our dependence upon Him as our guide
and protector and to implore a continuance of His parental watchfulness
over our beloved country."
President John Tyler pushed for years to have Texas admitted to the Union.
The city of Tyler, Texas, is named for him.
Texas' annexation was completed during the term of the next President, James K. Polk, whose Vice-President was George Dallas.
Considering
the Federal Government as having grown too powerful, taking away rights
from the States, John Tyler joined the Confederacy, though he died
before fighting began.
In his last Annual Message before leaving the Presidency, John Tyler stated December 3, 1844:
"The
guaranty of religious freedom, of the freedom of the press, of the
liberty of speech, of the trial by jury, of the habeas corpus...will be
enjoyed by millions yet unborn....
Our prayers should evermore be
offered up to the Father of the Universe for His wisdom to direct us in
the path of our duty so as to enable us to consummate these high
purposes."
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