By SD-45 author Andrew Richter: The Story of Two Forgotten Presidencies

Quick: name as many presidents as you can between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.  If you can’t name too many don’t feel bad, you’re not alone.  With the public schools slowly replacing American History with gay and lesbian rights seminars, women’s studies and basket weaving, some names have been forgotten.  Eight men served as president between Jackson and Lincoln and all eight have been forgotten or ignored.  Two of them died in office and none of the eight served more that one term.  William Henry Harrison and John Tyler are two of them, and they are the subject of my new book.

When I was in junior high my mother and I did my family tree and I found out I was related to former President Zachary Taylor and that sparked my interest in studying American History particularly in the pre-Civil War Era.  When she passed away in 1999 I tried to find her research but I have no idea what she did with it so I can’t remember how my family is related to Old Rough and Ready.  

Taylor was elected in 1848 but he never served a full term.  He died on July 9, 1850.  This has caused his name to be forgotten in most history books.  Not surprisingly, I’ve come to find that to be the truth for most of the presidents from this era in American History.  

The Whig Party was organized in the 1830’s by the opposition to Andrew Jackson.  After Martin Van Buren won the 1836 presidential election, the Whigs went looking for a candidate to win in 1840.  Hoping to exploit a war hero like the Democrats had done with Jackson, Whigs passed over their acknowledged leader in Henry Clay.  Their choice for president was William Henry Harrison.  Harrison had fought in the same war as Jackson (the War of 1812) and his victories against the Indians at Tippecanoe Creek in present-day Indiana gave him both a nickname and everlasting fame.  Former Democrat John Tyler of Virginia was chosen as his running mate to balance the ticket.  The Whigs then used the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.”  Harrison defeated President Van Buren in a landslide but he died only 31 days after his inauguration.  This left Vice President Tyler as the new president.

Clay and his cohorts in Congress thought they could run roughshod over the new president.  When Clay pushed two bills through Congress to try and create a new National Bank, Tyler vetoed both bills.  The Whigs responded by throwing him out of the party.  From then on, domestic legislation was at a standstill so Tyler turned to problems abroad where he found a good deal of success.  Tyler’s administration solved the border dispute between Maine and Canada that had existed since the American Revolution and added the rich new land of Texas to the Union.  Still, Tyler never seems to get much credit for his accomplishments.  His successor, James Polk, is often seen as the best president between Jackson and Lincoln whereas Tyler is often seen as mediocre “accidental president who was thrown out of two parties.

Overall, my goal is not to get you to like Harrison and Tyler.  It is simply to tell their forgotten stories accurately and honestly.