John Tyler, Jr. was the tenth president of the United States lived from March 29, 1790 to January 18, 1862. While Tyler holds the distinction of being the first president to take office after the death of a president, he is also the only president to not be nationally mourned at the time of his death. This is because of a stance he took during the American Civil War.
Tyler was a slave owner throughout his life and worked to prevent the war with the Virginia Peace Convention in February of 1861. When war began he served as a Virginia delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress, and was elected to the Confederate States House of Representatives, but died on before Congress had assembled. Due to his loyalty to the Confederacy, based in his belief in states rights, Tyler was denied the traditional day of mourning in Washington D.C. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA.
-Professor Walter


Comments