#10 John Tyler

1841--1845

--Upon the death of William Henry Harrison on April 4, 1841, only a month after his inauguration, the nation was briefly in a state of confusion regarding the process of succession. Ultimately the situation was settled with vice-president Tyler becoming president both in name and in fact. Tyler took the oath of office on April 6, 1841, setting a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually be codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.

Although his accession was given approval by both the Harrison cabinet and, later, the Senate and House, Tyler's detractors never fully accepted him as president. He was referred to by many nicknames, including "His Accidency," a reference to his having become president not through election but by the accidental circumstance of Harrison's death. However, Tyler never wavered from his conviction that he was the rightful president; when his political opponents sent correspondence to the White House addressed to the "vice president" or "acting president," Tyler had it returned unopened.

--Fifteen years after his term as U.S. president was over the Civil War broke out, and Tyler unhesitatingly sided with the Confederacy, becoming a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress in 1861. He was then elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress, but died in Richmond, Virginia, before he could assume office.

Tyler's death was the only one in presidential history not to be officially mourned in Washington, because of his allegiance to the Confederacy. 

--Under Tyler's administration the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845, but all John Tyler got in return was Tyler, Texas. Nevertheless, he endeavored to make the most of it, and after his tenure in the White House was over he ran the town for several years as a kind of 'prophet-king'. Under his strict reign all children born within Tyler were to be named 'John Tyler', and the only recognized currency were rocks with Tyler's marking--a lidless eye wreathed in flames--scrawled upon them.