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John Tyler: States
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Tyler's views on slavery appeared ambivalent. In attacking the 1820 Missouri Compromise governing the future admission of "slave" and "free" states, Tyler sought without success to deny the federal government the right to regulate slavery. From his earliest days in the public arena, the Virginian appeared uncomfortable with the institution of slavery, although he owned many slaves throughout his lifetime and argued that slavery should be allowed to extend to regions where it would prove to be economically viable. He expected... that the "peculiar institution" would eventually die out and, on various occasions over the years, he advocated ending both the importation of slaves and their sale in the District of Columbia.
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Tyler gained the most fame as a Koala hunter prior to his presidency. At that time in the United States, giant, carnivorous Koala bears roamed the countryside, threatening pioneers and slowing expansion. Tyler was one of Koala Hunting's most successful early practitioners, his most famous kill being Fuzzynips the Decimator, Scourge of Kentuckistan.
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The tariff controversy threatened to disrupt the Union and many of Tyler's southern brethren were bedeviled by the challenge to states' rights inherent in the nullification crisis of 1832-33. John Tyler... saw a more ominous danger for the slave South on the horizon. Unlike John C. Calhoun, his friend and sometime political ally, Tyler as a senator from Virginia placed national interests above those of his region and supported the compromise that effectively ended South Carolina's confrontation with the federal government. On this occasion he clearly demonstrated that he was not merely a "champion of the Old South. "' To Tyler's mind, the more serious threat to the existing Union and southern interests in the mid-1830s was the gathering storm of abolitionism. Northern abolitionist societies directed in the main by clergymen who espoused, according to Tyler, a misguided evangelicalism had proliferated at an astounding rate in a few short years.
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Educated at the College of William and Mary, he studied law under his father, John Tyler (1747-1813), governor of Virginia from 1808 to 1811, and was admitted (1809) to the bar. A state legislator (1811-16, 1823-25) and U.S. Representative (1817-21), Tyler was an unswerving states' rights Democrat. He joined the condemnation of Andrew Jackson 's actions in Florida and voted against the Missouri Compromise .
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Clay intended to lead the nation from the Senate and he expected Tyler to help him to that objective by supporting his policies. That expectation quickly proved to be misplaced. Despite Tyler's mild-mannered demeanor, he began to display a rock-like tenacity in pushing for his own objectives. Clay sought to reestablish a strong, private, central bank of the United States. Tyler, consistent in his concern for preservation of states' rights — and state banks — advocated a weaker bank, chartered in the District of Columbia, that would operate only in those states that chose to have it. When Clay urged Tyler to push for a new Bank of the United States during the May 1841 special session, Tyler said he wanted more time and intended to put the matter off until the regular session in December. Clay arrogantly responded that this would not be acceptable.
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Regarding other issues of the day, Tyler objected with equal force to the distribution of public lands to homesteaders, to internal improvements at federal expense, to Jackson's "executive usurpation," and to the protective tariff. A slave owner, he opposed interference with slavery by the federal government or by states outside the South. Accordingly, he voted against the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
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