Sold – Clay, After the Succession Crisis of 1841, Denounces Tyler as “Acting President”

In 1841, with Pres. William Henry Harrison at the helm, the Whigs came to power for the first time. However, after just a month as President, Harrison died and John Tyler, put on the ticket merely to bolster Whig appeal in the South, took office.  His authority was immediately questioned by his opponents, men like John Quincy Adams, who claimed he did not have the right to enact his own agenda but was rather “acting president,” a caretaker until the next election.  Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution reads: “In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death…the same shall devolve upon the Vice President and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”  This engendered a debate on the intent of the Framers of the Constitution. Did they intend that the full powers of the office itself, or simply the responsibility to run the Executive branch, should devolve on the vice president?  Tyler made it clear that he intended to serve as President, the same as if he’d been elected.  Mail sent to the “Vice President” or “Acting President” was returned unopened. Others vehemently disagreed and maintained that he was usurping power. He convinced Congress in 1841 to pass a resolution recognizing him as the 10th president, thus setting a key Constitutional precedent that has always been upheld.  Though theoretically a Whig, Tyler repeatedly used his veto to thwart Whig action.  Democrats saw him as a turncoat, so he had no friends on either side of the aisle.  This led to broad gridlock and the failure of the Whig agenda.  In the congressional elections of 1842, the Whigs lost control of the House to the Democrats.  It was a bitter defeat. 

All of the elections of the past fall which have been lost by them have been lost not by the increased strength of the opponents but by voters remaining absent from feelings of mortification and disgust created by the acting president.

Tyler had once made common cause with Henry Clay in opposing Andrew Jackson’s presidential program, but they were no longer on friendly terms.  Tyler vetoed Clay’s national bank bill, leading Clay to deride Tyler on the Senate floor and add his name to those considering Tyler “acting president.”  Then Tyler was expelled from the Whig Party and was under threat of impeachment proceedings.  So in February 1842, looking forward to a presidential bid in 1844, Clay announced his resignation from the U.S. Senate. Clay sought to broaden his appeal by showing sensitivity and not appearing overly partisan, as well as relying on his long and successful legislative career.  His daughter lived in New Orleans, and in his first winter after resigning his senate seat, he went there to visit and conduct business; and while keeping his eyes open, he refused to appear in a political posture. Judge Francis T. Brooke of Virginia was one of Clay’s closest friends.  The Papers of Henry Clay at the Library of Congress lists him along with just two other people as “his political confidants.”  In this letter to Brooke, Clay denigrates Tyler’s Administration and simultaneously comments on the Whig prospects in 1844.  

Autograph Letter Signed, New Orleans, La., December 30, 1842, to Brooke. “My Dear Sir, I received your favor by Mr. Porter as I had received your previous letters to which it refers. I should have before written to you but that I really possessed nothing to communicate and I write now only to assure you of the receipt of your favors and of my constant regard.

“I have seen a Mr. Carter and his lady here, near relations of Mrs. Brooke and promised them to say so.  They were well and I believe doing well.  Present my best regards to Mrs. Brooke and your daughter.  Always I am faithfully your friend, Henry Clay.”

Sadly, Clay’s enthusiasm was ill-placed. Although his popular support resulted in his selection as the Whig Party presidential candidate, he lost the election of 1844 to James Polk and the demise of the Whig Party was but a decade away.