2004-7-7
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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Late in the year eighteen-forty, the American people elected
their ninth president, General William Henry Harrison. His election
was expected. Still, it was a great victory for the Whig Party and a
sharply-felt loss for the opposing party, the Democrats. They failed
to put their man, President Martin Van Buren, in the White House for
a second term.
As we reported last week, Whig
leaders made most of Harrison's campaign decisions. Some of them,
especially Senators Henry Clay of Kentucky and Daniel Webster of
Massachusetts, believed they could control the newly-elected
president. But Harrison saw what was happening. When he made a trip
to Clay's home state of Kentucky, he made it clear that he did not
want to meet with Clay. He felt that such a meeting might seem to
show that Clay was the real power in the new administration.
Clay made sure that General Harrison was publicly invited to
visit him. The newly-elected president could not reject the
invitation. He spent several days at Clay's home in Lexington.
VOICE TWO:
Daniel Webster, without even being asked, wrote an inaugural
speech for the new president. Harrison thanked him, but said he
already had written his speech. Harrison spoke for more than one and
a half hours. He gave the speech outside, on the front steps of the
Capitol building.
It was the coldest inaugural day in the nation's history. But
Harrison did not wear a coat or hat. Harrison caught a cold,
probably from standing so long outside in the bitter weather of
inaugural day. Rest was his best treatment. But Harrison was so
busy, he had little time to rest.
VOICE ONE:
Hundreds of people demanded to see
the new president. They wanted jobs with the government. Everywhere
he turned, Harrison was met by crowds of job-hungry people. And
there was a problem that worried him. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster
were fighting each other for power in the new administration.
Harrison had offered Clay any job he wanted in the cabinet. But
Clay chose to stay in the Senate. Harrison then gave the job of
Secretary of State to Webster. He also gave Webster's supporters the
best government jobs in New York City.
VOICE TWO:
Clay did not like this. And he told the president so. Harrison
accused Clay of trying to tell him -- the president -- how to do his
job. Later, he told Clay that he wanted no further words with him.
He said any future communications between them would have to be
written.
Harrison's health grew worse. Late in March, eighteen forty-one,
his cold turned into pneumonia. Doctors did everything they could to
cure him. But nothing seemed to help. On April fourth, after exactly
one month as president, William Henry Harrison died.
Vice President John Tyler was then at his home in Williamsburg,
Virginia. Secretary of State Webster sent his son Fletcher on
horseback to tell Tyler of the president's death. The vice President
was shocked. He had not even known that Harrison was sick. Two hours
after he received the news, Tyler was on his way to Washington. He
reached the capital just before sunrise on April sixth,
eighteen-forty-one.
VOICE ONE:
There was some question about Tyler's position. This was the
first time that a president had died in office. No one was really
sure if the constitution meant that the vice president was to become
president or only acting president. Webster and the other members of
the cabinet decided that Tyler should be president and serve until
the next election. Tyler also had decided this.
Tyler was sworn-in as the tenth
president on April sixth. He was fifty-one years old. No other man
had become president at such an early age. Tyler was born and grew
up in the same part of Virginia as William Henry Harrison. His
father was a wealthy planter and judge who had been a friend of
Thomas Jefferson. John completed studies at the college of William
and Mary, and became a lawyer. He entered politics and served in the
Virginia legislature. Then he was elected a member of Congress and,
later, governor of Virginia. He also served as a United States
senator.
VOICE TWO:
Tyler believed strongly in the rights of the states. As a
congressman and a senator, he had voted against every attempt to
give more power to the federal government. Tyler's political beliefs
were strongly opposed to those of the northern and western Whigs.
Henry Clay firmly supported the ideas of a national bank, a
protective tax on imports, and federal spending to improve
transportation in the states. Tyler was just as firmly against these
ideas.
There was something else. Clay expected to be the Whig Party's
presidential candidate in eighteen-forty-four. If he supported
Tyler, then the new president might become too strong politically
and win a second term in the White House.
VOICE ONE:
Tyler quickly established his independence after becoming
president. Webster told him that President Harrison had let the
cabinet make the decisions of his administration. He said Harrison
had only one vote...the same as any member of the cabinet. Webster
asked if Tyler wanted this to continue.
"I do not," said Tyler. "I would like to keep President
Harrison's cabinet. But I, alone, will make the decisions. If the
cabinet members do not approve of this, let them resign."
Tyler wanted to change the cabinet, but could not do so
immediately. All but two members of the cabinet were supporters of
Senator Clay. Tyler wanted to put these men out and appoint men who
would support him. But if he did this immediately, it would split
the party. He would have to wait.
VOICE TWO:
The Whig Party controlled both houses of Congress after the
eighteen-forty elections. Clay wanted a special session of the new
Congress. He was able to get Harrison to call such a session before
the president's death. At the session, Clay offered six resolutions
as a plan of work for Congress. These proposed putting an end to the
independent treasury, the establishment of a new national bank, and
a tax increase on imports. They also included a new plan to give the
states the money received by the federal government from the sale of
public lands.
It was no problem to put an end to the independent treasury.
Tyler had opposed it during the campaign and in his message to
Congress. Congress soon passed a bill repealing the independent
treasury act. And Tyler quickly signed it.
VOICE ONE:
But a dispute arose on the issue of a new national bank. Tyler
had his Secretary of the Treasury send Congress the administration's
plan for a national bank. It would permit such a bank to be
established in Washington. And it would permit the bank to open
offices in a state, but only if the state approved.
This was not the kind of bank Clay wanted. He wanted no limits of
any kind on the power of a national bank to open offices anywhere in
the country. Clay then offered a bill that would create just this
kind of bank. There was much debate. And Clay finally agreed to a
compromise. Bank offices would be permitted in any state where the
state legislature did not immediately refuse permission.
VOICE TWO:
The Congress accepted the compromise. But President Tyler did
not. He vetoed the bank bill and sent it back to Congress. This had
been a difficult decision for Tyler to make. He wanted peace and
unity in the party. But he also wanted to show that he -- and not
Henry Clay -- was president. The people knew he opposed Clay's bill.
If he accepted it, the people would feel that Clay was the more
powerful.
Clay did not have enough votes to pass the bill over the
president's veto. Another effort was made to get a bank bill that
the president would approve. This time, members of Congress met with
Tyler to get his ideas. He explained, again, the kind of bank he
would accept. He said the states must have the right to approve or
reject bank offices.
The congressmen wrote another bill. They said it was exactly what
the president wanted. But the president did not agree. He said this
second bill would also be vetoed unless changes were made in it. The
changes were not made. And Tyler did as he said he would do. He
vetoed it. This second veto caused a crisis in Tyler's cabinet. That
will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
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VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Jack Moyles and Maurice
Joyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A
NATION can be heard Thursdays.