CHAPTER XXVIII

HARRISON'S AND TYLER'S ADMINISTRATIONS: THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS

1841-1845

274. Election of Harrison and Tyler. In 1840 the Democrats renominated Van Buren for the presidency. The Whigs1 selected as their leader General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, hero of the famous battle of Tippecanoe and several other Indian fights. For Vice-President they named John Tyler, of Virginia, who was known as a Democrat, although he had occasionally acted with the Whigs.

Harrison was lovingly called by his friends " Old Tippecanoe." The fact that a portion of his house was a simple log cabin and that he was said to be fond of cider became what the politicians call the "keynote" of the contest.2 Never before had there been such a presidential campaign. The Whigs held immense open-air mass meetings, to which, from far and near, whole families came in canvas-covered wagons, on horseback, or afoot, and for days together camped out in tents. Often the multitude would cover many acres of ground.3 Eloquent orators held them spellbound,a and they were fed at monster barbecues, where animals

1 After 1834 the National Republicans called themselves Whigs. This was the name adopted by the patriots in the American Revolution, to distinguish them from the Tories, who remained loyal to the King. A Whig was supposed to be an enemy of arbitrary government.

2 Van Buren was accused by his enemies of being an "aristocrat," and of using in his home a tea set of real silver.

3 A great Whig camp-meeting at Dayton, Ohio, attracted 100,000 people, and when the crowd was standing it took ten acres of ground to hold it.

In the slang of our day, political speakers are called "spell-binders." In earlier days, they were called "stump-speakers." This latter was in allusion to frontier conditions, when the forest had but recently been cut down to make room for farms and villages. Political speakers addressing out-of-door crowds would often do so from the top of a stump. A speaker starting out on his campaign would therefore "take the stump" or "go stumping."

were roasted whole and barrels of cider were provided for drink. There were also noisy and jubilant marching processions, sometimes several miles long. On such marches the Whigs carried gay banners bearing political mottoes, and drew a small log cabin on wheels; a live coon was chained to the cabin roof, and a barrel labeled " Hard Cider " stood by the open door; while the dusty crowd sang lustily, as they trudged along, a ringing lyric which set forth the qualifications of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"

From a campaign almanac

CAMPAIGN

275. Death of Harrison. A PICTURE USED IN THE HARRISON The new President was sworn into office on March 4, 1841. He was then sixty-eight years old, and not in good health. The long and tiresome journey from Ohio, which in those days had to be made mainly on horseback and canal-boat, told heavily on his strength; the weather was disagreeable on inauguration day, and in his weak condition he caught a severe cold. The

1 William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia in 1773, the son of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Before graduating from college, young Harrison left his studies (1791) to enter the army, which at that time was fighting the Western Indians. Here he won a fine reputation, and while he was governor of Indiana defeated Tecumseh's warriors at Tippecanoe. Harrison next became commandant of the Northwest, but retired from the army in 1814 and went to live on his farm in Ohio.

duties of the position, particularly the persistence of a horde of office-seekers, were too burdensome for a sick man like himself, who was not used to that sort of life. On April 4, to the dismay of the triumphant Whigs who had elected him, the old Indian fighter suddenly died, being the first of our Presidents to pass away while in office.1

276. Tyler succeeds to the presidency. The Constitution provides that when a President dies, the Vice-President shall succeed him. Harrison's death, therefore, placed John Tyler in the presidential chair.2

277. Tyler breaks with his party. Tyler had been elected by the Whigs but was at heart a Democrat, and soon vetoed some of the laws passed by the Whig Congress. This led at once to an open quarrel between Congress and himself. All the members of his Cabinet, except Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State, promptly resigned. The Whig Congressmen issued an address to their fellow Whigs throughout the country, declaring that Tyler was no longer a member of their party.3 During the three and a half years remaining of his term, the Chief Executive of the nation was actually without a party, so of course he had no influence whatever over Congress.

278. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Webster had stayed in the Cabinet simply that he might help in fixing the international boundary line between our country and Canada, particularly along the Maine border. For many years there had been a somewhat bitter controversy between the two nations over this matter, and previous efforts to arrive at a decision had failed. In 1842 Webster came to an

1 As it is often bad weather in Washington early in March, there has long been an attempt, thus far unsuccessful, to change the date of inauguration day to a better season of the year. At President Taft's inauguration (March 4, 1909) there was a storm of sleet and snow.

2 Tyler was born in Virginia in 1790, and died there in 1862. Graduating from William and Mary College in 1807, he became a lawyer. Previous to election as Vice-President, he had been a member of both houses of Congress. Tyler was not opposed to the extension of slavery, but did oppose South Carolina's nullification doctrine. As Federal Senator, however, he would not vote to force that State to obey the Federal laws.

The politicians call this, being “read out of the party."

agreement upon it with Lord Ashburton, the British minister, and the treaty that followed is known by their names.1 Soon after this event Webster resigned from the Cabinet.

279. Texas becomes independent of Mexico. About the year 1821 large numbers of American citizens, among whom were General Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, began to settle in Texas, which then belonged to Mexico. By 1833 it was estimated that over 20,000 of these pioneers, mostly from the Southern States, had taken up homes in that broad region. The

who lived in Texas were greatly alarmed at this rapid increase in the number of Americans; for the latter seemed to think that they owned the country, and it looked as though the Mexicans might soon be crowded out by these aggressive foreigners. The officials

THE ALAMO

therefore began to discourage further immigration from the United States, and to treat the newcomers with much harshness. This conduct caused the Americans to rise in rebellion in 1836, and after much fighting and loss of life on both sides they finally succeeded in defeating and driving

1 This treaty also reaffirmed the agreement of 1818, by which the northern boundary of the United States was to extend westward from the Lake of the Woods, along the forty-ninth parallel, to the Rocky Mountains.

2 At San Antonio, from February 23 to March 6, 1836, a small body of Americans, who had collected in a fort called the Alamo, heroically resisted a Mexican force of ten times their number. Nearly all of the besieged men perished from wounds and starvation, but at last the fort was taken by the enemy, and the six survivors were murdered by their captors. "Remember the Alamo!" therefore became the war-cry of the Texas patriots, who sought vengeance for this deed.

out the Mexican army.1 They now declared themselves freed from Mexican rule and organized the independent Republic of Texas; or, as it was called by the people of the United States, the "Lone Star State." 2

280. Annexation of Texas. The Texans next sought to join the United States. At first they were refused admission, for the leaders among them were slaveholders and wanted to remain such. It was pointed out by Northerners that this proposed new slave State was equal in size to nine or ten ordinary free States in the North, and might some day be cut up into that number. To admit it to the Union would very greatly extend the slave territory and increase the number of slaveholding members of the Federal Senate. The anti-slavery men of the North did not propose to allow this if they could possibly help it.

3

Therefore, although Texas persistently knocked at the door, she was kept out of the Union for several years. But in the spring of 1844 President Tyler startled the country by asking the Federal Senate to agree to a treaty which he had secretly made with the Republic of Texas, under which the "Lone Star State" was to be annexed to the Union. The Senate rejected the treaty by a large majority. Thereupon the Democrats, who were friendly to the South, loudly demanded that Texas be annexed; and this became one of the burning questions in the presidential election of the following November.

The Democrats won this election, and thus clearly showed that the majority of our people favored the admission of Texas as a State. Congress, therefore, promptly yielded to their demand in March, 1845.*

1 The final struggle was the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, wherein eight hundred Texans, under Houston, defeated five thousand Mexicans, led by Santa Anna, President of Mexico.

2 This was because the flag of the Texan Republic contained but one star. Texas is nearly eight times the size of the large State of New York. Daniel Webster declared that it is so broad that a bird could not fly across it in a week. The Republic of Texas owed debts amounting to $7,500,000. These were paid by the United States. Our people then considered this an enormous sum; and as it had to be collected from them by taxation, the saying was common that the name 64 "Texas" was but a misspelling of the word " "Taxes."