John Tyler
At a Glance
10th President of the United States (1841-1845)
Born: March 29, 1790, Charles City County, Virginia
Nickname: "Accidental President;" "His Accidency"
Education: College of William and Mary (graduated 1807)
Religion: Episcopalian
Marriage: March 29, 1813, to Letitia Christian (1790-1842); June 26, 1844, to Julia Gardiner (1820-1889)
Children: Mary (1815-1848), Robert (1816-1877), John (1819-1896), Letitia (1821-1907), Elizabeth (1823-1850), Anne Contesse (1825), Alice (1827-1854), Tazewell (1830-1874), David Gardiner (1846-1927), John Alexander (1848-1883), Julia Gardiner (1849-1871), Lachlan (1851-1902), Lyon Gardiner (1853-1935), Robert Fitzwalter (1856-1927), Pearl (1860-1947)
Career: Lawyer
Political Affiliation: Democrat, Whig
Died: January 18, 1862, Richmond, Virginia
Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia
A Life in Brief: John Tyler signaled the last gasp of the Old Virginia aristocracy in the White House. Born a few years after the American Revolution in 1790 to an old family from Virginia’s ruling class, Tyler graduated from the College of William and Mary at the age of seventeen, studied law, and went to work for a prestigious law firm in Richmond. More....
Essays on John Tyler and His Administration
Consulting Editor: William Freehling
Professor Freehling is a senior fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the emeritus Singletary Professor of the Humanities at the University of Kentucky. His writings include:
The Road to Disunion, 1776-1861 (2 volumes; Oxford University Press, 1990 and 2007)
The Reintegration of American History: Slavery and the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Prelude to Civil War: the Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836 (Oxford University Press, 1992)
Presidential Speeches
Below are selections from the Miller Center's John Tyler speech collection. To view the Miller Center's other speeches by John Tyler or by another President, please click the link below.
Miller Center Scholarship and Speakers
The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on John Tyler.
Listen Tony Coelho’s 1989 presentation at the Miller Center on the Selection of President and Vice Presidents.
Click here to learn more about the Center’s National Commission on the Vice Presidency and its relationship to Tyler.
Scripps Library Reference Resources
Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center's Scripps Library that are designed to help students and scholars quickly conduct their research.
Information on John Tyler's Private and Public Papers
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