Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/111

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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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