JOHN TYLER

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John Tyler
  John Tyler (1790-1862) had more children than any other president. He had eight by his first wife and seven by his second. Tyler was 70 when his last child, Pearl, was born. He was also the first president to be married in office though his eight children from his first wife did not approve of the wedding and did not attend. Tyler is also the first Vice-President to assume the office of President after the death of a sitting President. He was Vice President to William Henry Harrison who died of pneumonia one month after giving his inauguration speech bare headed in cold March weather. Many believed that the Constitution only meant that the Vice President would serve until a special election could be arranged to elect a new President. Tyler, through the force of will, would not let that happen. Because Tyler took a stand it is now expected that the Vice- President will automatically assume the office of the President upon the death of the President while in office. This was codified into law by the 25th Amendment. He was a life-long Democrat and Harrison was a Whig. Tyler alienated himself from the Whig Party by rejecting their policies. Most of his cabinet resigned in protest. This may be where I get my stubbornness because his great grandmother Alice Strother, who was born in 1719, is kin to me through my grandmother Ella Belle Frogge Brown. Tyler was President when Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 and was the only former President elected to the Confederate Congress but he died in 1862 before he could assume that office.

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