Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/110

 PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

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sional burying ground at Washington City, and was later removed to North Bend, Indi- ana. In 1896 an equestrian statue of Gen- eral Harrison was unveiled in Cincinnati, in the presence of his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, then President. President Wil- liam H. Harrison married, in 1795, Anna, daughter of Colonel John Cleves Symmes, founder of the Miami (Ohio) settlement, and United States judge, district of New Jersey.

Tyler, John, son of John Tyler, first gov- ernor of that name, and Mary Armistead, his wife, was born at *'Greenway," Charles City county. Virginia, March 29, 1790. He attended first an **old field school" till 1802, when he was sent to Williamsburg and entered the grammar school of William and ilary College. At fifteen years of age he entered the college, and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1807. In 1809, before attaining his majority, he was admitted to the bar, and in 181 1 took his seat in the house of delegates as a representative from Charles City county. He was a firm supporter of Mr. Madison and the war with Great Britain, and was captain for a short time of a com- pany of volunteers. In 1816 he was elected to Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. John Clopton. and served till 1821. In 1823 he was returned to the house or delegates, and the next year he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Taylor, of Caro- line county. In December, 1825, he was made governor of Virginia, and served from December i, 1825, to March 4, 1827, when he took his seat in the United States senate, defeating John Randolph, of Roanoke. In this body he advocated states' rights and

strict construction views, and voted for Jackson as President in 1828. When Jack- son issued his proclamation in 1832 against South Carolina, describing the Union as a consolidated nation^ Mr. Tyler withdrew his support, and joined the opposition party, which in 1834 became known as the Whig party. He opposed the so-called "force bill," and his was the only vote cast against its passage. He suggested to Clay the prin- ciples of the compromise tariff, by which civil war was averted in 1833. In 1836 he was nominated for the vice-presidency as the champion of states* rights, but was not elected at this time. On the other hand, he did not believe in nullification, nor in the South Carolina doctrines on the subject of slavery. He condemned Calhoun's "gag" resolutions against all petitions and motions relating in any way to the abolition of slav- ery as inexpedient, and in 1832, as chair- man of the senate committee, proposed a code for the District of Columbia, one sec- tion of which prohibited the slave trade in the district. In 1838 he was president of the Virginia Colonization Society. In 1839 he was reelected to the house of delegates, and the same year had a contest with Wil- liam C. Rives for the United States senate, when a deadlock prevented election. Soon after, he was unanimously nominated by the Whig convention at Harrisburg (De- cember, 1839) as vice-president, and was elected to that office. When President Wil- liam Henry Harrison died a month after taking office. April 4, 1841. Mr. Tyler, pur- suant to the constitution, became President. The Whig party was a conglomerate party and consisted of Northern National Repub- licans and Southern Democrats, who had left the Democratic party because of the

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