74
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
nationalistic views of Andrew Jackson, as
expressed in his proclamation in 1832,
against South Carolina, and in other meas-
ures. The Whig convention at Harrisburg
did not adopt any platform, and through-
out the election campaign in 1840 the Whigs
posed as champions of states' rights, and
Mr. Clay, their great leader, declared the
old measures of bank, tariff and internal im-
piovements all "obsolete questions." Never-
theless, among the first measures of the
Whigs was a bank bill, which President
Tyler, in perfect agreement with his previ-
ous course as senator, vetoed. This brought
about a rupture between the President and
his party, and the entire cabinet resigned,
with the exception of Daniel Webster, who
did not approve the dictation of Mr. Clay.
The President undisturbed, filled his cabi-
net with states* rights Whigs, and though
afterwards he received little support in
Congress from either Democrats or Whigs,
signalized his administration by achieve-
ments of far-reaching importance. Chief
among these was the treaty of Washington
with Great Britain, settling the northeastern
boundary and the question of the visitation
of American ships; and the annexation of
Texas. Instead of state and individual
credit stricken down, as at the commence-
ment of his administration, the treasury
exhausted, and numerous defaulters, exactly
the reverse was the condition of affairs at
the end of his term. There was but one
defaulter during his administration, and
he for the very small sum of fifteen dollars.
After leaving the White House, Mr. Tyler
retired to his home, "Sherwood Forest," in
Charles City county, Virginia, where he
lived for fifteen years the life of a Virginia
planter, surrounded by every comfort. In
1857 he was orator at the Jamestown cele-
bration, and in 1859 was made chancellor
of William and Mary College, for which he
had been rector of the board of managers
for many years. In i860 the condition of
the country called him from his retirement.
He recommended a peace conference, and
v/as president of that which assembled at
Washington in February, 1861. He was
also a member of the state convention,
which met in Richmond in January, 1861,
and was peace commissioner to President
Buchanan. When he saw that the northern
states were opposed to any compromise on
the slavery question, he voted in the state
convention for secession. This body soon
after elected him a delegate to the provi-
sional congress of the Confederate States at
Montgomery, Alabama. Later, in Novem-
ber, 1861, he was elected by the people of
the Richmond district to the Confederate
house of representatives, but died before he
took his seat. His death occurred in Rich-
mond, January 18, 1862. A great public
funeral witnessed the interment of his re-
mains in Hollywood Cemetery. He mar-
ried twice, (first) Letitia Christian, of New
Kent county, Virginia, and (second) Julia
Gardiner, of New York, and left issue by
each marriage. Jefferson Davis used the
following language concerning him : ** As an
extemporaneous speaker, I regarded him as
the most felicitous among the orators I have
known." Henry S. Foote spoke of his "high-
bred politeness, and his "entire freedom from
hauteur or assumption." Alexander H. Ste-
phens wrote that "his state papers com-
pared favorably with those of any of his
predecessors ;" while Charles Dickens, in his
"American Notes," giving an account of a
call upon him in 1842, said : "I thought that
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