American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 10.1 John Tyler

Episode Date: November 24, 2018

So Harrison is dead. John Tyler is at home playing marbles (or spike-ball), completely unaware that his life is about to change forever. But how did he get to this point? And, the question on everyones lips, what exactly did Tyler get up to during John Tyler's Glorious Military Career? Join us for part one of his life. 

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, Judd Tyler Part 1. Hello and welcome to American Presidents Totalus Rankium. I am James. And I'm Rob, ranking all of the presidents from Washington to Trump. And this is episode 10.1, A New President. It's John Tyler. Yeah, that happened fast. Yes, it did. That's what he thought. Have you got over the shock from last episode?

I think so. I'm a little bit annoyed. Yes, it did. That's what he thought. Have you got over the shock from last episode? I think so. I'm a little bit annoyed. Well, you made the point of before we started recording, it took you the same amount of time to research it and record it as it did for him to be a president. Yeah. Yeah. We spend about a month on each president. Yeah.

And that was his presidency. But this, of course, means we're on a little bit of a cliffhanger this week. Yeah. What's going to happen next? John Tyler becomes president. Well, yes, he does. But I guess it's going to be a bit confusing because this has never this week. Yeah. What's going to happen next? John Tyler becomes president. Well, yet he does. But I guess it's going to be a bit confusing because this has never happened before. What do we do?

Do we have to elect a new one or does vice president? It's not quite as crazy as that because when they wrote the constitution, they did have the foresight to put this in. Oh, did they? But no one really thought about it after it was written and no one's really looked at it. So everyone has to dust off their constitutions and figure out what exactly does that sentence mean then. But we'll see.

We'll see as we get into the episode. Are you ready for this then? I am ready. Okay. Open up. Close up of two sets of horses galloping. Just their feet along a mud road. Two sets or just two horses?

You could say two horses, yeah. Okay, two horses, got it. Yeah, two sets of horse legs. Ah, there we go. Yeah, yeah, galloping down a lane. Got it. Yeah, got the sound. Yeah.

Yeah, got the coconuts behind. Yeah, good. Wide shot, two men on horseback riding full pout as the rising sun, just going over the trees. That's quite nice. It's dawn. The guy as the rising sun just going over the trees. It's dawn. The guy with the coconuts just lagging it behind. Looking really tired at this point. Yeah.

Now, on the wide shot, the writing in the bottom left-hand corner says, Plantation of John Tyler, Vice President, April the 5th, 1841. 1841? Yeah, yeah. Okay. We're doing time jumps. It's exciting. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Right, and then pan up a bit. Pan up. You're panning up? Yeah, yeah. Okay. We're doing time jumps. That's exciting. Oh, gosh.

Yeah. Right, and then pan up a bit. Pan up. You're panning up? Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the distance, you see this plantation. A big manor. Looks very peaceful in the dawn light.

Oh. Yeah, very nice. And birds tweeting. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, that's very nice. I think John's just working. I'm thinking, ah, a nice relaxing day. Nothing to do.

Ah, well, cut to the house interior. Yeah. I actually got two versions of what was going on inside but I've gone for the more interesting one. Okay. Yeah, because there he is. He's already up, maybe wearing his gym jams. One of those nightcap things. Oh, yes. He's definitely one of those. Yes. And he's

playing marbles with his sons, apparently. Marbles? Marbles. That's a bit dull. It was the 1840s. I don't have much more to do. What, no Nintendos? No. No, it was awful. I want to make it more exciting. Put spikes on the marbles. Oh, spike ball. Spike ball, yeah.

So they're playing spike ball. Right, then cut to the gate. Horses fly past it. Figuratively. Then, close up on one of the marbles. Yeah. Just another one comes into shot. Clink. Rolls off a bit. That's what's going on inside. Tyler's lost the game.

He's feigning distress. He could have won. He feigns anger. Throws a marble. The wall gets embedded into the post. Yes. Then cut back outside the house again. These cuts are getting faster. Tension's building. The two men jump off their

horses. They rush to the door. Back inside here. The two men jump off their horses. They rush to the door. Back inside here. The knock on the door is urgent. It rings throughout the house. John looks up, confused. He's not expecting anyone. He heads to the door. A second round of urgent knocking starts up just as he opens the door, and it's none other than the son of the Secretary of State. Oh. And I'll quote her. Mr. President, I have been instructed by the Secretary of State. Oh. And I'll quote her. Mr President, I have been instructed by the Secretary of State to deliver these dispatches to you without delay. Tyler looks down at the papers thrust towards him. And I will quote the letter that was given to John Tyler.

To John Tyler, Vice President of the United States. Imagine tippy-typing noises. No, too early. Scratchy noises. Scratchy noises. Yeah. I'll do it in the background if you want. No.

I'll add it in post. Okay. Yeah, you make the noises now and I'll subtly overlay it. That's good. That sounds just like a quill. That'll do. That sounds just like a quill. That'll do, yeah. Cool.

I'll loop it. Nice. That's nice. Sir, it becomes our painful duty to inform you that William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, has departed this life. This distressing event took place this day at the President's mansion in the city, at 30 minutes before one in the morning. We lose no time in dispatching the Chief Clerk in the State Department

as a special messenger to bear you these melancholy tidings. We have the honour to be with the highest regard, your obedient servants. Bit of a spoiler there, saying I've got really bad news about the late President. Yeah, he did. There's no build-up there, is there? Tyler looks up and exclaims, and again I quote, My God, the president is dead.

Holy sh... Then the messenger interrupts, Yes, sir, Mr. President. The nation is in mourning. Then cuts... Yes, about, Mr President. The nation is in mourning. Then cut... Yes, about half seven. Cut to black. Have the name of the film come up in focus. John Tyler.

And we decide the subheading at the end. Requiem. Okay. And then, as that fades and the music's fouled a bit, just comes up, Several Decades Earlier. Always old, then. And then we go back in time.

Oh, nice. Yeah, there we go. Nice, nice start. Dramatic opening, I thought. Well, thanks for listening. Join us next week. Okay. You ready for his life then?

I'm strapping myself in. Because today we're going to get right up to that moment. Oh, today? Yeah, yeah. Oh, nice. I finally, in ten episodes, done what I always meant to do, which was episode one, life before presidency. Episode two, presidency and rating. Nice.

That was always the plan. It just never worked. I guess if you've got a short presidency, like Williams or Harrison, then, yeah, it'd be unbalanced. And the other earlier ones just did so much. Yeah. Yeah, because they were literally building the nation around them. Yeah. Okay, here we go, then. Judge John Tyler senior this is our john tyler's father yeah was a revolutionary war

veteran a member of the virginian aristocracy and political class as a youth he and his friend thomas jefferson had joined a crowd of people to watch patrick henry give his speech denouncing the british so Those bad Brits. Yeah. Tea-obsessed idiots. Beans on toast. What monsters. Judge John Tyler Senior was very much in favour of the revolution.

Yeah. Much to his own father's disgust, who was convinced that his son would be hanged for treason. Yeah. John Tyler Senior then attended William and Mary and met and married the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. He married Mary Armistead before the war, and between 1778 and 1795, they were busy. Eight children. Wow.

Five girls and three boys. The sixth of these children was a boy named after his father, John Tyler. Nice. So that's our John. Five girls, three boys, that's eight. Eight children, yeah. And the sixth, Anne. Yes.

We're clear on that now. Yes, sorry, it just takes me a while. Now by this point, John Tyler Senior was a judge in Virginia, and that's why I've been calling him Judge John Tyler. I was going to ask. That's what he's gone down his history as, just to distinguish him from his son. I did wonder why. Whether it was like a reality TV judge

like Judge Judy or Judge Rinder or a real judge. Judge Rinder is an actual judge apparently. Well he is but as soon as you're on TV he's not really a court name. No. But yeah it wasn't just a cool nickname they gave him either. The judge. Yeah. He's so judgmental. No, he becomes't just a cool nickname they gave him either. The Judge. Yeah. He's so judgmental.

No, he becomes a judge in Virginia. And also the owner of a 1,200-acre plantation in Charles County, Virginia. Now, we have very little on John Tyler's childhood due to the loss of his personal papers in a fire, but we do have a little bit of information. We know that he grew up on the plantation, with all that that had to offer. His entire world would have been living in the manor that was in the middle of vast fields of corn, wheat and tobacco.

Exciting. He would have ridden horses. He would have likely played with his siblings and likely the children of the 40-odd slaves that worked the fields. He would also have been too young to realise that the steady stream of visitors were often people who were famed throughout this brand new country. People like Patrick Henry, James Monroe,

Thomas Jefferson would just come and stay for a visit to see his father. His father's wow connected. Let's just say that. Now presumably he was very close to his mother because children generally are. Yeah. So when she died of a stroke when he was very close to his mother, because children generally are. Yeah. Yeah, so when she died of a stroke when he was only seven years old, it must have devastated him.

Oh, gosh, yeah. Yeah. Now, his father, realising his children needed someone to fill that void, hired a woman named Mrs Baxby to try and keep the children going. A matron. Yeah. I've just got an image of the sad children in bed weeping. Yeah.

Don't worry, little John. Your mother's gone. But I will always be able to hire someone else. What was her name? Mrs Bagsby. Yeah, I know. It's a brilliant name, isn't it? Full-on Mary Poppins.

Perhaps I'm being slightly unfair to John's father here though because he did actually do quite a bit with his children despite the fact he was busy like you say hit them, shouted at them no not as far as we can tell because apparently little John would often listen to his father's tales of the war

these stories would often turn political, his father's opposition to the ratification of the constitution would These stories would often turn political. His father's opposition to the ratification of the Constitution would often come up in his tales. Excellent. I'm not sure how much of a detour had to be made. Let me tell you a story, little John, of a little

puppy who went to market one day and realised the Constitution was a disgrace. We should never have ratified, dammit. Why? Why? Why? Tell me why.

Daddy, stop shaking me. Yeah. Do you remember the debate in Virginia over the ratification of the Constitution? This is where Patrick Henry delivered a speech in a storm and everyone hid under the table. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's all dramatic. And it's Dennis Smith, a tree.

Yeah. Yeah. John's father was in that meeting and very much on the anti-constitution side. The fact that the new federal government had too much power and government was ideally small and state-run, these were things that were instilled upon little John at a very young age during these exciting war these exciting war stories and a bounce of violin playing as well. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Maybe his father made up songs

about how the constitution should never have been ratified. Rage violin playing. Yeah. Reenacting Henry's speech, using the violin to do the lightning strikes. Yeah. Anyway, by the time he was 12 years old, it was decided that John was ready for a wider education

and was sent to William and Mary. Ah. Yeah, the college we have seen before. Very young, as you may have noticed, to be going off to college. That's a good point. But this was a preparatory branch. Like a prep school. Yeah.

It's get yourself ready for the real college. So he went there at the age of 12. There apparently were some worries about his health, though, at this time. He was reported to be, I quote, very slight and often suffered from chronic diarrhoea and breathing problems.

Ew. In between bouts of wheezing on the toilet, however, he soon settled into the college and developed a love for poetry and violin playing avoiding the more strenuous and boisterous activities that were on offer He's not a guy that wants to strain No, he gets enough of that

He also developed a love for William Shakespeare Oh God and obviously ancient history because everyone loved ancient history. So yeah, he generally became a very good student. He kept in frequent contact with his father, who would offer him helpful advice, such as, and I quote here,

I am mortified to find no improvement in your handwriting. Neither do you conduct your lines straight, which makes your letters look abominable. It is easy to correct this fault, and unless you do, how will you ever be fit for law business? P.S. Love and kisses. Your father. P.P.S. We should never have signed that constitution. I imagine it's like a really long letter from John saying, I love you, daddy, I miss you so much.

Any wise words of wisdom you can share for me on this Christmas day? Slash my birthday slash the anniversary of my mother's death and yeah that's that's what he gets back nice nice yeah the biggest part of his schooling however that really had an impact on him was the relationship he developed with the college president, the Reverend Bishop James Madison. This is the second cousin of the more famous but yet to be President James Madison. Okay. Yeah, so a different Madison from the family. This Madison was absolutely convinced that God had created this new republic to spread its style of government around the world. It was destiny for the United States to spread the virtues of the Republic. This was clear. This was obvious.

This was manifest, even. Oh, dear. Yeah. Although I hasten to say the term manifest destiny hadn't come up yet. Okay. But we're starting to see it here. And this will come back. Yeah.

Planting the seed. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, that idea seeped into the young aristocrat John and it stayed there, as we'll see later on. Anyway, in 1807, John graduated from William and Mary at the age of 17. He was invited to speak at the graduation along with only other three students of his year.

So he obviously impressed. Like a valedictorian. Yeah, he was a favourite of Reverend Madison. However, Madison apparently soon regretted the choice as he watched enraged as one of his favourite students spoke at length for the need for women to be educated as well as men. Outrageous for the time. I guess for the time, yeah. Well, I say for the time. Apparently, almost everyone in the audience was cheering and clapping and thinking it was great, apart from Bishop Madison, who was doing

slicing motions on his throat like, cut this out right now just see a hook on a stick edging behind his neck a bit wobbles, drops it Madison picks it up again tries again, and then just starts beating shut up, shut up, it up again, tries again, and then just starts beating him with it.

Shut up, shut up, shut up! Anyway, with his education behind him, it was time for him to make something of himself. So what's he going to do? Law. Of course, yes. This was not too hard, considering his father, soon after this, became governor of Virginia. Oh, okay. And to begin with, he studied law under his father,

but perhaps his father was too busy to keep this up because he soon changed and studied with Edmund Randolph, a respected man. However, a little bit too federalist for the young Tyler's Republican tastes. Yeah. Randolph supported the idea of a strong national government, which appalled Tyler. Oh.

Yeah. Heresy. Now, Tyler is 19 at this point, and he passes the bar. Oh, that's good. Even though he should not be able to at this age. He is too young to do so. Yeah, and according to a couple of things I read, the judge simply forgot to ask him his age.

But I think that's a bit naive. I'm guessing this is more likely that the judge fully remembered to ask him his age. But I think that's a bit naive. I'm guessing this is more likely that the judge fully remembered to ask Tyler his age, but then also remembered Tyler's name was Tyler. And perhaps we don't need to ask that question today. Soon after, he was set up as a lawyer

specialising in criminal law. He was considered to be a dynamic performer in the court, being able to, and I quote here, play on the emotions of the jurors, though they were strings on a violin. You mean manipulate? Yeah. Okay.

He was quite good, apparently. You will not be surprised to learn that this is just a stepping stone, however. A stepping stone to what Tyler and his family saw as his real calling, politics. Also, it's like a genuine desire to be a politician rather than be a lawyer um yeah less so than what we saw with van buren yeah we saw someone who seemed to genuinely want to get into the hurly-burly of politics yeah this is more i'm a virginian aristocrat it is my duty as a gentleman to serve the public i'm with you it's very much more the roman style of becoming a politician fake modesty yeah we'll see this uh more and more as we go through with tyler

we've seen a couple of presidents from a newer generation almost yeah who aren't like the founding fathers no tyler models himself on the founding fathers. He's very much a Traditionalist. Okay. Yeah, so he's going into politics because that's what a virginian gentleman should do and you'll be amazed in 1811 at the age of 21. He was elected to the virginian house of delegates Oh, it does help when your name is literally the same as the person who's the governor. Oh, do you think people that voted voted for the wrong person? Possibly. Anyway, he immediately made a bit of a name for himself.

The House ordered that the two Virginian senators oppose the rechartering of the National Bank. So you've got the Virginian House telling the National Senators, of which Virginia has two, to do something. Well, they can't do that. Well, yes and no.

They can't force the senators to do it. But the Republican ideals is that senators should follow the will of the people. The will of the people is represented by the House in Virginia. So they're trying to drive the idea forward. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, now, due to political pressure that we don't need to get into, the two senators did not do what they were told to do.

Oh, naughty. Yeah. Now, this will come up again later, so just bear this in mind. But for this moment in time, the young Tyler was furious, stating that this was, and I quote, incompatible with the principles of a Republican government. So, he introduced three resolutions that censured the two senators, despite their high regard with most of the Virginian House.

So here's this new upstart saying we need to formally denounce these two senators. Oh, okay. Yeah. The resolutions were then sent to a committee and the wording toned down a little bit. Can't use that word, sir. It's far too offensive.

But Tyler had made it very clear of what he thought of senators who just didn't listen to the states. The state was the most important form of government. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, during this time, Tyler's personal life was undergoing change because he had met somebody.

I thought you were going to say puberty. It finally kicked in. No, he'd met a woman named Letitia Christian. You guessed it. She is the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. Excellent. Ten a penny in Virginia, apparently. They're everywhere.

Yes. I guess every family's like having eight kids and probably half of them will be girls. And, you know, all over the place. And also the Virginian aristocracy. They kept it in the family. Oh, they did. Yeah.

They did. Now, this was a Federalist plantation owner. Ooh. But he was very wealthy, which smoothed things off a bit. And his daughter's quite tasty. Yeah. John wasn't put off enough to say this shouldn't happen. Yeah.

For four years, they had what appears to be a very stiff and formal engagement. You're smiling at the word stiff. I am, yes. Yes. I don't think John, no. Not for four years. If we can believe Tyler, he only summoned up the courage to kiss

Letitia's hand the day before the wedding. Wow. Yeah, that's how stiff and formal it was. Wow, that's... I imagine lots of fans being held. Oh, yeah. Lots of walks around the garden. Quite a fair distance apart with a chaperone.

Yeah, lots of, oh, I say. Oh, dear. I'm sure I don't know what you mean. Titter, titter. Yeah. Less creepy, titter. Yeah. Less creepy, though. Yeah, hopefully. John.

Now, it was during preparations for the wedding in 1813, however, that sad news reaches John. Dad died. Dad dies. Oh. Yeah, Dad was buried next to his wife, and the entire state mourned. Wow. His father was a big deal. Yeah, so much so that the legislators of the state wore black armbands for 30 days,

an honour that had only ever been given to George Washington himself. Wow, that's impressive. Yeah. Still, life goes on, and you can't just cancel a wedding. The next day. On his 23rd birthday, he was married to Letitia. Aww. Yeah.

He told a friend that he was not nervous because he was more mature than most people his age. He realised that the changes in his life at the moment were going to turn out fine. That but he had just inherited the plantation, I'm sure. That helps. Yes. That's a bit of sugar in the plantation, I'm sure. That helps. Yes. That's a bit of sugar in the old coffee, isn't it? Yeah, now I must admit, and maybe our listeners can help here,

John is the second son. He had an elder brother called Watt. But I could not find out what happened to Watt. Yeah, because I read that John inherited the entire plantation. So what happened to Watt? Because he's still alive at this point. But I read somewhere John inherited the entire plantation. So what happened to Watt?

Because he's still alive at this point. But I read somewhere else that they moved into a farm on the plantation. So maybe Watt gets some of it, he gets some of it. He died in a peasant revolt. Oh, that's what happened to Watt. Watt Tyler. Yes, yeah. But it was like 500 years previous.

Same Watt. Was it? Yeah. He's doing well. It's doing well. It's doing well. Now, of course, during this time, you may have realised that the dates here, we've just brushed past a very important date. We just hit 1813.

Oh, 1812. Yes. Yeah, the wars just kicked off. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. And in May of 1813, the British invaded Virginia. Ooh. Tyler felt the call to help the country and join the local

militia. And so, the glorious military career of John Tyler begins. I think we need some music for this. John Tyler, glorious military career. Perfect. Great. I'll turn that into a song. Right, are you ready for John Tyler's glorious military career? Yes. John Tyler. He marches, marches, marches. Fight, fight, fight, fight. John Tyler.

Glorious military career. Okay, due to the fact his name was John Tyler, he was of course immediately given the rank of captain. Oh, for goodness sake. Yeah. He was therefore suddenly in charge of whipping a group of bored farmhands into a fighting force.

Oh, God. Are you ready for this? Because it's a training montage. Oh, brilliant. Oh, yes. Okay, so start this? Because it's a training montage. Oh, brilliant. Oh, yes. Okay, so start with them unable to do press-ups and turning the wrong way on a march and trying to stab things with bayonets.

Holding the gun the wrong way around. Yeah, yeah. Tripping over their shoes as they try and do them up. Licking ice lollies and getting their tongue stuck. Oh, no. Yeah. No, that's awful. Yeah. Just putting a head in the toilet and with a bum in the air yeah that kind of thing all manner of foolish things

like having a packet of crisps to be with crisps out in the packet yes idiots yeah so all of that but of course this is a training montage so So, slowly but surely, bit by bit, have them, right, in no way whatsoever improve. And then end on a shot of them still unable to do press-ups. Wonderful. One of them in the back, munching on a packet of crisps, literally. Some guy drowning in the toilet, legs twitching in the air. God. A lieutenant coming up to him him you have done this before

captain tyler oh no i'm excited to learn though oh god yeah apparently um they they weren't going to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies let's just put it like that no still they were keen and what more did you need anyway after, after this, let's call it training, they joined up with the rest of the state militia in Williamsburg, and they were housed in the dormitories of William and Mary. That's always old school. He's back there again. That must have been nice.

Now, according to one story, they were awoken one night to the sound of an alarm. The British are coming. They've got big guns and they're wearing red it's scary well they all jump out of bed yeah some of them successfully they all rush to the door they're upstairs in the dormitories so they're all rushing together in a bit of a hurry like six years ago one little door yeah one little door that's at the top of the stairs someone trips

then they all trip and they all land in a big heap at the bottom of the stairs this is ridiculous yeah after they untangle themselves they all like brush themselves off check their watch a lot as if oh yeah now that's what I meant to do

but like when you miss a bus and you try and run and then you just trot a little bit. Yeah. It's like, oh no, I just wanted to do a little bit of a run. Bit of a canter. Yeah. Yeah. None of them looking each other in the eye. No.

Bit of whistling. But then, it's fine. All they need to do is go and face the British and all of this will be forgotten. Oh no. So, off they go. They finally make it to where the British and all of this will be forgotten. Oh, no. So, off they go. They finally make it to where the British were sighted, only to find out it was a false alarm. Oh, that's good for them.

Yeah, perhaps it was just like a scarecrow in a field or something. Yeah, with a British accent. Yeah. Then, sometime later, the war ended. That's good. And there you go. That was John Tyler's glorious military career. Cue the music once more.

John Tyler Sparges, sparges, sparges Fight, fight, fight, fight John Tyler Glorious military career Oh, that's, that's, that's... It couldn't have gone better, to be honest. He survived the war. Yeah, that's... It couldn't have gone better, to be honest. He survived the war.

Yeah, he did. He's a war hero. None of his men died under his command. That's always something he can say. Yes, he can. Unless someone... Unless it was accidental, yeah. Got a nasty accident on the stairs.

Or see them drown in the toilets. That's a good point. One chokes on a crisp packet. To be fair to Tyler here, he was the first to make fun of this himself. Later on he would mock his, and I quote here, distinguished military services during the War of 1812.

So yeah, he didn't take it too seriously. That's good though. Although his political enemies did often point out how pathetic this was. But still, he got some land out of it. He was given a tract of land in Iowa for his services. Okay. Because he was a captain.

Yeah, that's nice, isn't it? More importantly, though, for him, he had served so he could say so and then keep pushing his political career. After a couple of elections, he won a race for the US House of Representatives. And at the age of 26, he became one of the youngest congressmen in the country. He heads off to Washington, DC. Nice. He arrives in the Capitol and witnessed firsthand

the destruction the British had left to all the public buildings. As we've seen, the Capitol building was all but destroyed and the White House had been gutted by fire. Again, we have a scene here of a future president arriving at the capital only to find mud streets and houses huddled together instead of fully formed streets.

This is the capital? Yeah. Tyler made his way to the hastily constructed brick building that was acting as the capital building. The Old Brick Capital, as it became known. They're good with their names, aren't they? They are. Tyler was slightly

starstruck when he arrived. All these big names about. Remember, he's still very young. Of course, yeah. He was particularly impressed upon meeting Calhoun. Quote here, as a debater and a writer, he had few if any superiors.

He didn't need to debate, they'd just stare at you. I think that's what he meant. and a writer, he had few, if any, superiors. Yeah. He didn't need to be able to just stare at you. Yeah, I think that's what he meant. Yeah. I'm guessing he went to meet Calhoun and someone went, Calhoun, take this in with you. Just passed a little bunny. And a knife. He might like you.

What do I do with these? You'll work it out. But yeah, above all, however, he was impressed with the Speaker of the House, out. But yeah, above all, however, he was impressed with the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay. Yeah, Henry Clay. Yeah. He wrote down, and I quote here, Clay's voice, gesture, and manner were those best calculated to sway the action of popular assembly. Had he lived in the time of Pericles, his name would have found a place of high eminence in Athenian history. And then he, like, raised his hand for a high five.

But no. No, he's new. He's new. He's young. He doesn't quite get it. That's not bloody Roman! Oh, it's a Roman reference. Oh, I thought it was just Satan history. Where's Cicero? Yeah.

You arse! It's fine. he learnt eventually. Yeah, yeah. However, despite Clay impressing the young congressman in the way he spoke, his message was worrying to the young man. Clay was talking about the need for a strong army. As, to be fair, were a lot of people after 1812. Yeah.

Yeah. A strong market economy, a strong national infrastructure. And to Tyler's utter horror, it was going to be the national government that should provide those things. Yeah. Tyler and his commitment to states' rights did not like the tone of this one little bit, and immediately voted against a bill designed to support Clay's vision. Oh dear. So he's making a bit of a name for himself. Yeah. He was then put on a committee of five people to look into just exactly what the National Bank was up to. Being broke.

Well, the Second National Bank had only just recently been set up, but many did not think that it really done anything to help the economy. Many were suspicious that it really done anything to help the economy many were suspicious that it was making it worse tyler was appointed to see if there's any truth to this so in 1818 tyler and the team traveled to philadelphia in the winter months exactly 200 years ago exactly 200 years ago to the day winter it's cold off to philadelphia so the long cold hours over a few months were spent just reading documents trying to figure out what was going on our quote here i have never encountered more labor to have to wade through innumerable and huge folios

said the slave owner no one knows what it's like to spend this much time working. I had to read 14 pages before lunch today. Yeah, he found the work tedious and was forced to learn about banking on the job, which no one wants to do.

I'll quote here, the strongest mind becomes relaxed and the imagination sickens and dies. Well, it would, wouldn't it? It would. Although I do notice he's saying the strongest mind sickens, where he means my mind. Yeah, most intelligent people in the world. Couldn't possibly do this job.

Yeah, he wasn't enjoying it. No. No, after a few months of doing this, Tyler and the team found exactly what they'd set out to find, which is usually the way these kind of committees work. Yeah. Keep looking until it says what you want it to say. Yeah. Yeah, the banks were indeed guilty of mismanagement and violations.

Oh. It needed to be shut down, and the banks reopened under state control. Weird, that. Yeah. However, despite the report, this argument didn't actually have too much support, and the bank survived with only minor adjustments.

And then the Missouri crisis hit Congress, and that was all anyone would talk about. I'll quote here, Missouri is the only word ever repeated by politicians who have no idea of the excitement that prevails. Men talk of the dissolution of the union. Tyler was, men talk of the disillusion of the Union. Tyler was obviously firmly on the South side in this. Yeah.

Now, just to remind you or any listeners who may have forgotten the Missouri crisis is when Missouri wanted to become a state and wanted to become a state with slavery. Yeah. The North objected to the creation of a new slave state. The South wanted a new slave state. So there was deadlock. Yeah. Well, objected to the creation of a new slave state. The South wanted a new slave state. So there was deadlock. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I remember that. That's okay. I know you remember that. Oh, definitely, yeah. This is just in case there was a listener out there who had forgotten.

Oh, I think that's very thoughtful of you to think of the listeners like that. Yeah, yeah. Because I definitely remember. Yeah, I know you remember. I know.

Yeah, so you'll be unsurprised to learn that Tyler was very much on the South Side here. Missouri should become a state and it should have slavery. Yeah. Tyler made it very clear. He hated slavery. Absolutely. It was an evil that was unfortunately forced upon the United States.

He hated it so much, he wanted to get rid of it. What? Oh yeah, and there's only one way to get rid of slavery, according to Tyler. By allowing it to spread to as many new states as possible. Um... What? Yeah.

So he's outwardly saying to everybody, I hate slavery, it's the worst thing in the world, but he just he did nothing to show that he actually disliked it. No, slightly more than that. He actively wanted slavery to spread throughout America. Ah, right. Yeah, the argument was thus. If we keep slavery bottled up, those states that have slavery will have a lot of slaves,

and those states will become dependent on slavery. Right. But if we allow slavery to diffuse across the entire country slavery will become weaker and it will be easier to eventually one day in the far future of course phase it out i'm liking him less and less yeah the only way to stop slavery is more slavery. A ridiculously weak argument that you'd like to think would not pass the mustard nowadays. I can definitely think of at least one argument in current politics that uses the same logic. Anyway, so all this debate's going on. Many in the North saying we need to keep slavery contained. Many in the South saying no, it should spread.

Tyler, unable to really participate in the debates. Because one morning, on the way to the house, he felt a disagreeable sensation in his head. Maybe it was the feeling of morals and guilt. Who knows? No. It increased over time. He reached the Capitol building,

but soon had to get out for some air because he was feeling rather unwell. Then the sensation spread throughout his body, leaving his limbs and his tongue useless. Sounds like paralysis, like a seizure? Yeah, well, he was carried back to his boarding house and bled. Oh, that doesn't help anyone. Well, it depends. I mean, some circumstances.

But they did like a good bleeding back then, didn't they? Yeah, they did like a good bleeding, yeah. It was certainly the go-to option. Oh no, he's got a slight headache. Quick, slice open his aorta. Yeah, the doctor diagnosed this as a diseased stomach. But, sir, the pain's in my head. I mean, I'm not trying to criticise you, Doctor. I admit I don't have a doctorate.

However, the pain really is in my head. Well, we don't know what this was because that's all the details we have. But the most popular opinion is that it was botulism. Something that you can pick up through water or food. Oh, lucky. And it can do what I've just described, basically. Okay. It won't make you faint, but it will make your limbs go a bit useless.

It will make your tongue go a bit useless. It will give you headaches. Yeah, not nice. An illness that plagued him for at least a couple of years, on and off. However, he was able to return to work sooner than that. By this time, the compromise that Maine would become a non-slave state at the same time as Missouri becoming a slave state was close to completion. Sort of a balance there. Yeah, exactly. As we've seen before, this compromise

was put together. Tyler was not happy at all and spoke in front of Congress, blaming the North for causing this crisis. They're putting the Union in jeopardy because of their obstinate ways. He then stated that restricting the spread of slavery would open the door for the government to seize any private property off any citizen. What? Well, his argument ran that if your slave could run away into a non-slave state and then become free automatically

then that's effectively the government stating that your property no longer belongs to you just because your property's moved somewhere else. This is the same as the government coming into your house and just taking your belongings. Oh, that's just uncomfortable.

It's not great, is it? No, that's really uncomfortable. Yeah. That's not great, is it? No, that's really uncomfortable. Yeah. That's horrible. He strongly opposed the compromise, like I say, stating that anyone trying to stop the South's right to slavery would, and I quote here, earn the deepest curses of posterity. Which a statement could not be further from the truth.

The idea that people in the future would look back on people opposing slavery and go, oh, how terrible it was they opposed slavery. Now, to be fair to Tyler, trying to be, the Missouri Compromise was certainly not perfect in any shape or form. No. And Tyler later looked back to it as the start of the Civil War, which is a fairer statement. I mean, that is when you're drawing lines on a map between North and South.

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. But it should be remembered, Tyler didn't dislike the Missouri Compromise because it would cause tension in the country. He disliked it because it halted somewhat the spread of slavery. However, Tyler was one of the very few that thought the way he did, and soon announced that he would not seek re-election. I'll quote here,

I stand in a decided minority, and to waste words on an obstinate majority is utterly useless and vain. So he's sulking. Yeah, how dare these people think slavery should be contained. There's no point talking to the fools. It's like saying you can't own books. Yeah. Not only this, he also had three children at this point

that he needed to start thinking of the futures for. And he needed to start thinking about making some more money. He quit Congress and set up as a lawyer. Although he didn't seem to really enjoy it very much. He'd never really been a lawyer. He'd always been a politician. Being a lawyer was more of a stepping stone. But he did seem to enjoy it more when he was younger.

Yeah. Yeah, going back to it now doesn't seem to pan out. He seemed to be quite grumpy a lot of the time. Yeah, one day he roughly cross-examined a man named Thomas McCone. Thomas caught John just outside and stated that John had been unjust in his line of questioning. Wasn't really on back there, John. You could have been a bit nicer to me in the courtroom. Yeah, shouldn't have called me a...

Yeah. John replied that he had not been rough and then criticised Thomas' courtroom demeanour. Thomas, getting angry at this, stated, and I quote, You have not acted the part of a gentleman, sir. Oh, they are fighting words.

Them's be fighting words. Yeah. Literally written in my notes. Nice. Oh, yes. Tyler hit Thomas in the face, and a fight broke out. Excellent. Yes.

The two were separated soon afterwards. Tyler claimed that he had won, like you do. Yeah, of course you do. Excellent. Yes. The two were separated soon afterwards. Tyler claimed that he had won like you do. Yeah, of course you do. That was it. They didn't have a duel or anything. This isn't Jackson's episode. That's true. No. Anyway, he's a bit bored. I can tell. Yeah. Beat him.

So, after two years, after his retirement from politics, he decided to get back into the fray. He ran for the Virginian House and won. Yeah. And this kept him going for a couple of years, and then he ran for the governorship of Virginia. Oh. And he won that as well.

So he is now the governor of Virginia, just like his pa. Nice. Yeah. Now, being the governor of Virginia was more of a prestigious and honorary title rather than a powerful one. Yeah. Yeah. Being the governor of a state varied in different states, depending on how they set it up.

Virginia really hated the idea of an executive branch when they set theirs up. So the governor was more of a showpiece. Yeah. They had no power whatsoever. So Tyler did very little as a governor, but to be fair to him, so did everyone as governor That's right So yeah, I don't think you can really hold that against him

One thing he did do is he gave the funeral speech For Thomas Jefferson, who died at this time Oh, that's nice Went down quite well, apparently But then, national politics came calling once more Can we? Because the increasingly erratic John Randolph Was currently a Virginian senator.

And he was supportive of the state's right agenda, just like many Virginians. But he was starting to become a bit odd. In what way? A bit erratic. Oh, okay. One report had him undressing and redressing on the Senate floor. That's a bit odd. A little bit odd.

Yeah. And probably just like some overclothes. But I'm like down to white fronts in my mind. Yeah. I don't think anyone said anything. Whilst delivering a speech as well. Oh, even better. That's something completely different.

He just doesn't mention it whilst he strips down to his white fronts. A load of big wide eyes and a few open mouths. Whilst he's disputing the merits of a publicly on St. Amphus. A lot of big wide eyes, a few open mouths. Whilst he's disputing the merits of a publicly funded road. Nice. Yeah. So, that was a bit odd, but bigger than that he had just got into a dispute with Henry Clay that had led to a duel.

Ooh. Yeah. Neither men were killed, but many in Virginia thought that perhaps having a call ahead in the Senate might be a good idea. I think so. Yeah. So Tyler was approached. Governor of Virginia. Nice call ahead in the Senate might be a good idea. I think so. Yeah. So Tyler was approached. Governor of Virginia. Nice.

Representative in the House in the past. Yeah. Yeah, perhaps he could be a senator. Do you want the job? To begin with, Tyler refused and publicly supported Randolph. Of course I won't try and take Randolph's job from him. No. But I could though, couldn't I? Yeah, at some point he changed his mind

and ran against the older man. Being no real political difference between the two men, it was a very close race. It was a personal race then. Yeah, it was very much should we get rid of the crazy man and put Tyler in instead. It was a narrow vote. Tyler won 115 votes to

110. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. But, when he does, he's going to head back off to Washington again. This time as a senator. However, John's feeling a bit strapped for cash. Remember, one reason why he quit last time was because he was starting to feel a bit poor. Yeah. He realises

if he's going to get to Washington, he needs to raise a bit of funds. So, finally, he thinks, I've got lots of things I could sell. Yeah? Yeah. What's he got lots of? Oh, people. Yeah, in this case it was a woman named Anna Eliza, apparently a favourite of the family.

A very good slave. Yeah, he tried to sell her to what he considered a good home. He was unable to find anyone he knew in need of the woman, however. So in the end, she was put up for public auction. What happens to her, we have no idea. Nothing good.

Nothing good, no. That's a human being. Cash in pocket, however, Tyler heads to the Capitol in the year of 1827. What an ass. And things were hotting up in the capital because the election was next year and there was a lot of movement behind Andrew Jackson, especially now Martin Van Buren was helping to organise things. Yes.

So that's the period of history we're in now. Now, Tyler had found no one represented his views in the previous election, but reluctantly swung behind John Quincy Adams. Now, that was the election between John Quincy Adams and Jackson. Yeah. That John Quincy Adams won with the corrupt bargain. Yeah. Yeah.

Tyler did not like John Quincy Adams, but he also did not like Andrew Jackson. So he went, oh, John Quincy Adams. He's got some nationalist leanings that I don't like, but maybe it'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. Tyler was then utterly horrified when John Quincy Adams became the president and started saying things like,

wouldn't nationally funded roads be a good idea? No! So that was last election. This election coming up, Tyler wanted none other than the New York governor, DeWitt Clinton, to run. Do you remember him? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's from Van Buren's episode.

DeWitt Clinton was everything Tyler wanted for a politician. Give me the name. DeWitt. Oh, yeah, it was DeWitt. I thought it was DeWitt. Yeah, you asked that last time, yeah. Yeah, because that was weird. Yeah, well, after all, DeWitt had organised the Erie Canal using state funds, proving

that states could get involved and produce good infrastructure. Yeah. Yeah. However, DeWitt announced that he supported Andrew Jackson and was not interested in the role himself. Oh, okay. So Tyler was once again left with choosing between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.

By this point, Tyler just hated Adams. He was against everything Tyler stood for. However, Jackson was an uncouth frontiersman who wanted the illiterate masses to run the government. You don't want that. No. Good God, man, no. Hell to the nay.

The man can hardly read himself, I hear. Gosh, as a cannibal. Yeah, that kind of attitude. Still, because Tyler had become to despise Adams so much, he held his nose and threw his support behind Jackson. He didn't publicly get involved with the increasingly acrimonious election campaign and made very little comment when Jackson eventually won. However, he was pleasantly surprised when one of the first things Jackson did

was veto a planned nationally funded road. Okay. Yeah, brilliant. That sounds right up my street. My state-funded street. Yeah, brilliant. That sounds right up my street. My state-funded street. He was then further impressed when Jackson went to political war against the Harry Potter wizard and director of the US Bank, Nicholas Biddle. Oh, yes. Yeah. Remember, Tyler hates the National Bank.

Yeah. So, Jackson going after the National Bank. Fantastic. This is all looking good. Tyler's starting to think, this Jackson fella, maybe he's alright. Yeah. However, Tyler's fears then start to come true when it became clear that Jackson was appointing people based on whether they supported him

rather than on merit. That's not how a republic's supposed to run. No. This is the spoil system that we talked about last week with Harrison. Denabson spoils system. At least it's over nowadays.

Yeah. However, this wasn't the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the nullification crisis. Now, obviously, you remember this, but again, a small recap. Oh, for the listeners. For the listeners. Yeah, thank you. Now, if you remember, this is the argument that erupted between Calhoun with South Carolina against Jackson and the national government over a tariff that helped the North over the South.

Yes. Yeah? Yeah, I'm definitely remembering that. As we have seen, Calhoun threatened to nullify the tariff. Right. And Jackson threatened to use force. Yes. To make them pay.

To use force, yeah, to make them pay. Yeah. And then they had a toast-off against her. Yes. You remember the toast-off? I remember the toast-off, yeah. Of course you do, yeah. Now, Tyler, strong supporter of South Carolina's position,

because obviously the state should be able to say what they're going to do, and despised Jackson's force bill that was starting to be talked about. So Jackson was going to put a bill forward to say I can march troops into the state and make them pay this. Oh no that's not good. Well that's what Tyler said. Yeah. However Tyler after saying some strong words soon realised he was in a very dangerous position because Virginia was very split on this issue. Some like Tyler got behind South Carolina but there were many others who were supporting the union over the state. And Tyler's re-election was coming up. So he had to attempt

to appease both sides of potential voters. So he made it very clear to these potential voters that he felt South Carolina's rights superseded the union's. But that said, because he was a strict constitutionalist, he did not believe that South Carolina had the right to nullify the tariff, as the Constitution did not state that that was possible. So he was trying to play both sides there. He's been walking the line there. Fairly cleverly and well done

there. Yeah. I completely agree with South Carolina, but hands are tied. Because I love the Constitution. Yeah. Pretty good. Then, with nine days before his re-election into the Senate, the force bill hits the Senate floor. Okay.

Yeah, and he has to speak publicly about what he called that bloody bill. He argued that Jackson had far too much power. He complained that you could not walk down the street without seeing signs for national blacksmiths or national oyster houses. This idea of nationality has taken over. He then argued that nationalism was un-American.

They were a union of states with a federalist government that worked for the states, not the other way round. Yeah, so it's a whole different way, isn't it? Yeah, it's just a different way of viewing the other way round. Yeah, so it's a whole different way, isn't it? Yeah, it's just a different way of viewing the structure of government. Now, if the Senate approved the force bill and said that Jackson could march in

and force South Carolina... Flip that on its head, completely. Yeah, exactly. They would be giving Jackson permission to lead an army anywhere in the country and do whatever he wants. We will then have a despot on our hands. He finished to a stony silence.

Then his fellow Virginian senator got up and delivered a pro-Jackson speech. Oh dear. In the end, the situation, as we briefly talked about before, was de-escalated by a compromise put together by Clay. But by then, Tyler's position was very clear. Despite the de-escalation, however, the bill was still put to the vote. It was still going through the motions and machines of government. But the outcome was no longer really very important

because everyone was accepting the compromise. Despite this, Jackson made it very clear that he was watching closely on who voted. Either way. Hand on gun. Yes. Shink, shink as he sharpened the pistols. Some in the Senate just didn't vote, feeling they didn't need to.

This isn't important anymore. We don't need to put our names to anything. They were too scared. Yeah. Tyler was the only man who went on record against it. The only man willing to stand up to Jackson. Of course, all this had an effect on his election and whether he would get another term as Senate. But he narrowly was re-elected. It certainly cost him some votes, though. By this time, Tyler's dislike for Jackson was so great that when Jackson once again went to political war against the bank and Nicholas Biddle,

Tyler was in a bit of a bind. I hate you, but I like what you're saying. Well, Tyler announced that this was Jackson trying to grab power once more. No one hated the banks as much as him, but Jackson was attempting to pull all the power to himself. The man must be stopped. Oh, but it's been... Yeah. It's like, if even I am saying this is too much, it must be too much.

Yeah. Don't forget, they're in the same party. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, this is the Republicans splitting into the Democrats and, of course, the Whig Party. Yes. So Tyler starts looking at this rapidly forming Whig Party, thinking, they don't really line up with my political views at all.

But, ooh, they hate Jackson. And so do I. So he wasn't openly with the Whigs at this point, but he really wasn't with the Democrats either. And things were going to get politically tough for him from now on. The Senate had narrowly voted to censure Jackson, again, a formal

condemnation of what Jackson had done. This had never been done with a president before. This was breaking new ground. However, the Senate managed to push it through with Tyler at the forefront. However, shortly after this, and after another round of elections, the makeup of the Senate turned pro-Jackson, and a move was made to expunge the censure from the records.

Big rubber. That didn't happen. We'll ignore that. At the same time, the Virginian House of Delegates had turned pro-Jackson as well, and they ordered their senators to vote to expunge the record. Oh, man. And this now links us back to the start. Yeah. Do you remember when the first thing he did

was tell the senators off for not following the orders? Yeah, yeah. Of the House in Virginia? Well, now he's a senator, and the House in Virginia are telling him to vote a certain way. Ooh. Against everything he believes in. Ooh, is he gonna, is he gonna do it though? Is he gonna follow his heart or is he gonna follow what his job is telling him to do? Well, it leaves him in a bind, doesn't it? Yeah. His personal beliefs were that senators could not ignore instructions

from the Virginian House, but his personal beliefs also just as strongly believed that you could not ignore instructions from the Virginian House, but his personal beliefs also just as strongly believed that you could not expunge anything from the records. Once it's there in the records, it's got to stay. Otherwise, what's the point in records? Public record. Yeah. Plus, on top of this, he really, really, really believed that Jackson deserved the censure.

Yeah. So he didn't want to get rid of it. An impossible position. So what's he doing? I think he does what he's told to do. No, he resigns. Oh, really? Yeah.

Oh, wow. I'll quote, At least I have the satisfaction to know that I remained honest in the worst of times. That's respectful, actually, because a lot of people wouldn't do that. Yeah. They'd weasel their way out of it or they'd do something, but nope not doing that resigning that's that takes i mean i hate him he's an ass but but yeah a bit of grudging respect yeah okay um his political enemies in the virginian house rejoiced at this this was kind of what they were aiming for they wanted him out to get a pro

jackson uh senator because he's so nag. So yeah, this worked perfectly for them. And sure enough, they managed to get their own man in, William Cabell Reeves. Reeves is very important to history because, and this is true, he looks just like Freddie Mercury. Does he? Do you want to see a picture?

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. That's insane. It's the same guy isn't it that's a kind of magic that's one vision i'm not gonna get out of my head anyway carry on the show must go on bravo thank you well we are the champions. Seriously now. Bizarrely, I came across this photo of William Reeves. That's weird. About two, three months ago.

Yeah. Just flicking through Wikipedia, collecting dates for various things, and just went, that was Freddie Mercury. And just went, oh, that's insane. He looks just like Freddie Mercury. I then did all this research on tyler came across this story of reeves didn't put the two together and then just happened by sheer look to when i was scrolling through my phone yesterday to scroll past this picture again i

went oh that's william reeves that's the guy in this story that's generally we will put this photo up uh on on Twitter and Facebook. Can I get a closer look? So everyone can see how identical to Freddie Mercury this guy is. That is Freddie Mercury. He even dresses like Freddie Mercury. I did find a different picture of him, and he didn't look quite so much like Freddie Mercury. We should probably say for the listener's benefit here, this is not mustachioed Freddie Mercury.

This is late 80s, early 90s, operatic Freddie Mercury. When he's doing the, there's a Spanish opera singer right there. Yeah, yeah. So no moustache, short hair. That is weird. It's freaky, isn't it? Same nose and everything. Yeah. So Freddie Mercury manages to take Tyler's place in the Senate after Tyler resigns. This beautiful voice. Yeah. Tyler returned home just before his 46th birthday, completely fed up with politics once more. He would have been as amazed as anyone if you told him in five years' time you will be President of the United States. Get out.

No. So let's see how that happens, shall we? Yeah. His retirement, once again, was very short. Yeah. The election of 1836 was upon them. Jackson's Martin Van Buren was the clear favourite. The Whigs, still new and disorganised, tried their trick of running several people against. Just a dilute. Yeah. But as we've seen, this didn't work. But it was very close. Some people approached Tyler, one of the most vocal Jackson opponents, and asked him to run as a vice president. He did very little to gain votes.

He wasn't really interested. He thought the Whigs would not succeed with this plan. No. He was quite disinterested, and he received very few votes. But the Whigs in general did much better than most people thought they did. Van Buren won, but only just scraped the majority. And then, as we have seen, the economy went to sit in the corner to weep

for a while, as the panic of 1837 happens. Now, we won't cover that again, because we know what that was. That's misery, pain. Yeah. Death. Just know the country's not in a good state. Tyler was inspired by the performance of the Whigs and decided to get

back into the Senate once more. Maybe we can actually take down the Jacksonians. So he puts his name forward, feeling that with the surging anti-Jackson feeling, he would easily be able to win his seat back. He was, after all, one of the nation's most vocal anti-Jacksonians.

Yeah, I'll help him out. However, and we need to start crunching some political numbers to understand this next bit, the current makeup of the Virginian General Assembly, the people who vote on who should become the next senator, was split three ways. You've got Van Buren supporting Democrats with 81 seats. Right. Then you've got the Whigs with 69 seats.

A little bit behind. And then you've got a third group with only 16 seats. So a small little group, but as you can see, the numbers work that they are the deciding factor. Oh yeah, of course. Now these were Conservative Democrats

that had broken away from the Democrats, not liking the way that Jackson and Van Buren had taken things. They weren't quite Whigs. They hadn't made that step yet. No. But they weren't happy with the Democrats. Their votes were there to win. And whoever they sided with would win.

They were the kingmakers. Now, all Tyler needed to do was get the votes from the Whigs and the Conservative Democrats. Both groups hated Jackson and everything he stood for. Should be able to win this, he thought. No problem. Tyler won the first round, but did not get the majority. Oh dear.

Worryingly, Reeves, Freddie Mercury, who was also up running for the seat again Who was only currently backed By the Conservative Democrats So in theory should only have At maximum 16 votes Had a whole lot more than that So where on earth was he getting

These extra votes from? Well rumours started that Henry Clay Was pulling strings in the background And sending wig votes To Freddie Mercury party well rumor started that henry clay was pulling strings in the background and sending wig votes to freddie mercury furious tyler confronted clay is this true i am your obvious choice i quit my seat fighting against jackson i'm the obvious person for this not bloody freddie mercury yeah i mean lovely voice. Yeah. Amazing voice. But, I mean, I'm

the anti-Jackson vote here, surely. Clay, apparently quite calmly, said, yep, it's true. What you need to understand, Tyler, is there's a bigger picture here. There are things working in the background you will have no understanding of. Pretty much, yeah.

You'll just have to trust our judgement and when the time is right, we Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing that's word for word. Yeah. He pointed out that the Whigs needed the Conservative Democrats to become Whigs. Ah, yeah. If we support their man, we can then fold them into our party. Yeah. It will draw us closer together. If we support their man, we can then fold them into our party. It will draw us closer together.

Clay suggested to Tyler, why don't you drop out, Tyler? Sit this one out. And in return, I'll make sure your name will appear on the wig ticket for the vice presidency in 1840. How about that? Tyler, not wishing to have this meaningless post of vice vice president refused and continued trying to get the seat. In the end, 28 ballots were cast. 28 rounds of voting could not produce a majority. Eventually, the meeting was called off.

The seat remained vacant. Okay. So we can keep doing this. Do this forever. All we can start. Yeah, but who's hungry? Then, in 1839, when the first national Whig convention was called, which sounds like a fun affair.

Check out all the styles. Tyler and Clay had made up enough that Tyler had decided to throw his support behind Clay in Clay's bid for nomination to run for president. Okay. Remember, we covered this convention last time. Yeah, we definitely did. Yes. I remember. This is the one where Harrison managed to defeat Clay after a letter was accidentally dropped. Yes, I remember that. Good, you remember that. Yeah, so that's this convention. Many thought that Clay was going to win this going into the convention. And Clay was a southern slave owner. It would therefore make sense to have a northern anti-slavery vice president, just to balance things out.

But, as we've seen, Harrison, in a shock move, won. And suddenly, the office of vice presidents looked like it should perhaps go to a slave-owning southerner. That's interesting. Who have we got? Well, there was a Virginian senator called Lee. He fit the bill perfectly. He was approached. Nah, he didn't want it. What's that, vice-president? Nah.

Nor did the delegates from North or South Carolina. Okay, what else? How about Tyler? Anti-Jacksonian to the core, ex-governor of Virginia, well-known ex-senator. He'd do. And after all, who else have we got?

Almost by default, therefore, Tyler was put on the ticket to run as vice president. Tyler was very pleased with this. And to show some solidarity with the party, he withdrew his bid for the Senate seat, and that deadlock was finally lifted. Oh, that's nice. Tyler later remarked that no one asked him of his opinions.

No one seemed to think about the fact that Tyler was not really in line with most Whig's political views. He was only in the Whig camp because of his dislike for Jackson. Not one person seems to have stopped to think about what would happen if Harrison won the election but then died in office. jackson yeah not one person seems to have stopped to think about what would happen if harrison won the election but then died in office and then the election of 1840 happened with all of its ridiculousness yeah which we won't cover again but tyler you'll probably won't be surprised to learn found the whole thing very distasteful yeah politician you're supposed to wait for people to beg you to do the job and then you will reluctantly serve.

If I have to. Yeah. However, eventually he was persuaded to go and deliver some speeches, which, to be fair to him, apparently he did very well, drawing some huge crowds, between 30,000 to 40,000 people. They're not going to hear him at the back. Yeah, some estimates as large as 60,000, which is just a phenomenally

big size of crowd, considering no one could hear a damn thing. That's a large football stadium. That's the Rico Arena. I know, yeah. You stood in the middle shouting, they're not going to hit you. Yeah, but obviously he did some good gesticulations or something, because he went down very well with the crowds. His easy way of speaking, his graceful manner that he had, it worked. Despite his professed dislike for the election, he was able to deflect tough questions as well as any modern politician. That's good. So he was getting into the spirit in some ways.

They'd ask him a question, then he'd just start talking about his policies, that sort of thing. He'd say things like, well, I want it to be very clear that before he said something that was not clear. Yeah. And he'd say things, well, let me answer that question before not answering that question. That's a fantastic question. So my policies are...

Yeah, things like that. Well, I'll give you an example here. When asked about specifics in policy, he would answer, I'm in favour of what General Harrison and Mr Clay are in favour for. Which sounds great. Yeah. Until you stop and look into favour of what General Harrison and Mr Clay are in favour for. Which sounds great. Yeah. Until you stop and look into it and realise that Harrison and Clay quite often disagreed on things. Yeah.

Brilliant. But I'm in favour for the candidate and the leader of the party. Brilliant. Yeah. Towing the party line. Then, as we saw, Harrison won in a landslide. Nice. Van Buren utterly crushed.

Tyler was elected as Vice President. A job that, as we have seen, is not a real job anyway. He did not sit in meetings when the Cabinet was formed. His opinions were not asked for. He generally wasn't around. He doesn't really get time to be

Vice President, does he? Not really, no. Probably didn't have his first meeting. No, no, didn't really do anything. Clay and Harrison fell out, as we saw last time. Yeah. Yeah, they had their disagreements. Tyler wasn't involved in that. The inauguration speech happened. Nothing to do

with Tyler. He's just not involved. In fact, there was so little for him to do, he went home. Played marbles. And he played marbles with his boys. And spiked ball. And then cut to the galloping horses from the start. Oh. Go through that whole scene again.

The letters presented. My God, the president is dead. Tyler, at the age of 51, becomes the youngest president to date. Still? To date. Oh, to date. Yes, no. Although he's quite high up on the list of youngest presidents.

I think he was like... JFK, maybe, wasn't he? No. Testing me now. Theodore Roosevelt, I think, is JFK's second. If I've got that right, I'm going to be very impressed, and it will stay in the episode. If I've got it wrong, it'll hit the editing.

That's fine. But, yeah. So there you go. That is Tyler up to his presidency. Nice. Thoughts? Bit of a git. Yeah.

But he's just someone who complains a lot. He's obviously set in his ways. He's got a view, hasn't he? With a capital V. Yeah. And he's very conservative with a lowercase c. Yes. Yeah.

He's a traditionalist. Yeah, and he's very conservative with a lowercase c. Yes. Yeah, he's a traditionalist. Yeah. You get the feeling he saw how his father did it, and he wanted to do it like that. Because that's his first impression, that's the best way, because that's all he knows. Yeah. Idiot.

His views on slavery really don't help him. No. Not at all. No. But even if you take that off the't help him. No. Not at all. No. But even if you take that off the table, yeah. Yeah. But who knows?

Maybe there'll be some good stuff next time. Yeah. Yeah. There's a couple of things in there. Okay. Yeah, we will see. One or two. Yeah, we'll see how he does in his presidency.

Okay. Well, thanks for listening, everyone. Don't forget to download us on podbean and itunes etc etc etc follow us on facebook and twitter etc etc etc and we'll see how uh mr john tyler's next week i'm sure it'll be amazing he might be amazing are you thinking lowest score so far or will he beat jackson i think he might more than i depends i don't know who knows maybe all sorts could will he beat jackson i think he might more than i depends i don't know who knows maybe all sorts could happen joining us jackson was fun though when was it that america got to the moon again was this him 69 ah damn no he's not gonna get points for that then is he um yeah we'll have to see ah well okay thank you very much for listening

all we need to say then is goodbye. Goodbye. Daddy, daddy, can I have another story, please? Of course you can, little John. Yay, I love your stories. What would you like to hear today, Hansel and Gretel? Oh, we had that last one. Oh, we did. What would you like?

This one there, Cinderella. Cinderella, of course. One of my favourites. Yay. Are you ready? Yay. A rich man's wife became sick, and when she found her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, Dear child, remain pious, good, and republican,

and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you. And with this, she closed her eyes and died. Aww. Yes, I'm sorry, little John. But don't worry, she went to a better place. Ohio? No, she went to heaven because she believed in the Republican ideals.

Yay! Exactly. Republican! Anyway, the girl went out to her mother's grave every day and wept, but she remained pious, good, and Republican. And when winter came, her father found a new bride. Oh, was she Republican, Daddy? Unfortunately not.

Oh, no. She was very much a Federalist. Oh. Oh. Yes, and she had two young sons. Handsome to look at, but Federalist at heart. Oh no. Their names of course were. Alexander Hamilton. You got it. And the other one? James Madison. That's right, little John. Such evil people. Evil, dark, federalist hearts.

Dark, fetid, putrid, evil hearts. Like the burning of a thousand... I'm sorry, John. You're okay, Daddy. Yes, no. No, times grew very bad for the poor stepchild. Oh. Yes, she had to listen to their ridiculous arguments for hours, hours.

Would they listen to Henry? Would they? No, they wouldn't. He made so many good points. He spoke through the storm, damn it. Anyway, the stepchild was forced to sit in the cellar. That's where Federalists make good people like us go, isn't it, Daddy? Unfortunately so, Little John. If she wanted to eat bread,

they forced her to pick lentils out of the cinders. Oh, no! The cinders. And her name was Ella, so her name obviously was Good Republican Girl. Oh, she was so good and pure and real. Her heart was pure, Daddy. Oh, it was, little John. Like the sun. It was, little John. Anyway, in the end, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

realized the error of their ways and came begging, begging as they saw the nation collapse around them. Oh, I was right in the end. I will always be right. You're hurting me, Daddy. I'm very sorry. Something to do with a slipper and everyone lived happily ever after in a Republican ideal world. Yay! Death to the Federalists! Can we have one more before bed, Daddy? Okay, one more. Which one would you like? Can we have the three little pigs and the evil Federalist wolf? Of course we can.

Once upon a time, there were three little Republican pigs that wanted to farm the land in a Republican utopia. Did they make their own laws and their own ideas, Daddy? They formed small states. One out of straw, one out of of twigs and the other out of bricks