John Tyler Becomes President
Tyler was sworn-in as the nations 10th president on April 6, 1841. He was 51 years old. No other man had become president at such an early age.
Tyler was a slave-holding southerner. He was born and grew up in the same part of Virginia as William Henry Harrison. His father was a wealthy landowner and judge who had been a friend of Thomas Jefferson.
Tyler completed studies at the College of William and Mary, and became a lawyer. He entered politics and served in the Virginia state legislature. Then he was elected a member of Congress and, later, governor of Virginia. He also served as a member of the United States Senate.
Tyler believed strongly in the rights of the states. As a congressman and a senator, he had voted against every attempt to give more power to the federal government. In fact, historian Michael Holt says that in many ways, Tyler was more like a member of the Democrats -- the opposing party at the time.
He favored the typical position of Democrats on what we could call domestic policy, which is that government is best which governs least. So the less federal domestic policy you have trying to generate economic growth or improve society or whatever, the better.
In comparison, many Whig Party members firmly supported the ideas of a national bank, a protective tax on imports, and federal spending to improve transportation in the states. Tyler was just as firmly against these ideas.
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