Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/101

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"Fiscal Bank of the United States," the essential features of which were framed in accordance with the president's suggestions and in deference to his peculiar views of the institution. The bill was finally passed by congress on Aug. 6, with a clause concerning branch banks differing from Mr. Ewing's, and sent to the president, who returned it with a veto message, in which he declared the act unconstitutional in several particulars. This veto created great excitement and anger among the whigs throughout the country. The whig leaders in congress, however, made yet another effort to conciliate the president and secure his assent to their favorite measure. A bill was prepared embracing certain features supposed to be acceptable to the president, and was privately submitted to and approved by him and his cabinet, and finally without any alteration passed by the house, Aug. 23, and by the senate two weeks later; but the president, who by some communications was made to believe that the bill was framed with the object of entrapping him into an act of inconsistency, vetoed it. Very soon after the promulgation of the veto, the cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, the secretary of state, sent in their resignations, and published statements of their reasons for this step, reflecting severely on the conduct of President Tyler. The president filled their places by appointing Walter Forward of Pennsylvania secretary of the treasury; John C. Spencer of New York, secretary of war; Abel P. Upshur of Virginia, secretary of the navy; Charles A. Wickliffe of Kentucky, postmaster general; and Hugh S. Legaré of South Carolina, attorney general all of them whigs, or at least opponents of the democratic party. Before the adjournment of congress, Sept. 13, the whig members published a manifesto proclaiming that all political relations between them and the president were at an end. The course taken by Mr. Webster, though condemned by some of the whigs, was justified by the greater portion of the people on the ground of the critical condition of our relations with Great Britain on the subject of the northeastern boundary, in regard to which he was at the time engaged in negotiations with the British ministry. After a satisfactory treaty was arranged and ratified (August, 1842), Mr. Webster resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. Legaré, who died soon after. In July, 1843, President Tyler reorganized his cabinet as follows: Mr. Upshur, secretary of state; Mr. Spencer, secretary of the treasury; Mr. Wickliffe, postmaster general; James M. Porter of Pennsylvania, secretary of war; David Henshaw of Massachusetts, secretary of the navy; John Nelson of Maryland, attorney general. Messrs. Porter, Henshaw, and Nelson were democrats, and the first two were rejected by the senate when their nominations came before it. In their places the president appointed William Wilkins of Pennsylvania, secretary of war, and Thomas W. Gilmer of Virginia, of the navy, who were confirmed, Feb. 15, 1844. On Feb. 28 Mr. Gilmer and Mr. Upshur, while inspecting the steamer Princeton, were killed by the bursting of a gun, and Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina was appointed secretary of state, and John Y. Mason of Virginia secretary of the navy. Under the management of Mr. Calhoun a treaty of annexation was concluded between the United States and Texas, April 12, 1844, which was rejected by the senate. But the scheme of annexation was vigorously prosecuted by the president, and at the very close of his administration brought to a successful issue by the passage of joint resolutions by congress, approved March 1, 1845. The other most important measures of his administration were the act establishing a uniform system of proceedings in bankruptcy, passed in August, 1841, and the protective tariff law of 1842. Toward the close of Mr. Tyler's term it became evident that he had lost the confidence of the whigs without having secured that of the democrats. In May, 1844, a convention composed chiefly of officeholders assembled at Baltimore and tendered him a nomination for the presidency, which he accepted; but in August, perceiving that he had really no popular support, he withdrew from the canvass. In 1861 he was a member of the peace convention, composed of delegates from the "border states," which met at Washington to endeavor to arrange terms of compromise between the seceded states of the south and the federal government. Of this convention he was elected president, but nothing resulted from its deliberations. He subsequently renounced his allegiance to the United States, and gave his support to the confederate cause. At the time of his death he was a member of the confederate congress.


TYLER, Royall, an American author, born in Boston, July 18, 1757, died in Brattleboro, Vt., Aug. 16, 1826. He graduated at Harvard college in 1776, and studied law under John Adams. He was for a short time aide to Gen. Lincoln. In 1790 he commenced the practice of law in Guilford, Vt. From 1800 to 1806 he was chief justice of the state supreme court, and he published "Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Vermont" (2 vols., 1809). He was also known as a dramatist, his play "The Contrast," produced in New York in 1786, being the first American play acted by a regular company, and the first also in which an attempt was made to portray the conventional Yankee character. It was followed by "May Day, or New York in an Uproar" (1787), and "The Georgia Spec, or Land in the Moon" (1797). He also published "The Algerine Captive," a novel (2 vols., 1799).


TYLER, Samuel, an American author, born in Prince George's co., Md., Oct. 22, 1809. He was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1831, and settled in Frederick City, where he has since resided. In 1836 he contributed to the