Perhaps no other president has so often borne the epithet of
"imbecile" as John Tyler, who was expelled from his own party by
a rump Whig congressional caucus. The vicious political infighting
that characterized his term may account for the low regard in which
his presidency has been held by historians, who have generally
ranked him as one of the least successful chief executives, despite
achievements such as the Webster-Ashburton treaty, which
heralded improved relations with Great Britain, and the annexation
of Texas, which added millions of acres to the national domain.
	
    Why did John Tyler pursue what appears to have been a
politically self-destructive course with regard to both his first party,
the Democrats, and his later political alliance, the Whigs? Was it
on the grounds of principle, as he asserted? And if so, what
principles? Dan Monroe has set out to explain the beliefs that
commanded such overwhelming fealty from Tyler that they led to
his resigning his Senate seat and exercising politically suicidal
presidential vetoes.

    Monroe traces the origins of Tyler's political philosophy in his
early years in the Virginia legislature and the U.S. House of
Representatives before examining the crises Tyler faced during his
term in the House: the Panic of 1819, the financially tottering
national bank, and the Missouri debate. In surveying Tyler's Senate
career, Monroe examines his conflict with President Andrew
Jackson, the tariff controversy with South Carolina, and the
Removal crisis.

    Finally, Monroe turns from the establishment of Tyler's
philosophical moorings and attitudes to their implementation
during his term as president. He persuasively surveys a number of
key events, such as the bank vetoes of 1841, the additional vetoes
of the tariff in 1842, and the annexation of Texas. His intent is to
find the unifying thread(s) of principle shaped in the earlier years
that make sense of these controversial presidential actions. A
portrait emerges of "a man struggling to maintain a treasured
philosophical worldview amidst an unforgiving political
maelstrom."

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DAN MONROE is a historian with the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency who lives in Champaign, Illinois. He is
currently working on a history of the Illinois Executive Mansion.