Because of law and precedent, the process following
upon the vacancy of the office of the President is fairly well understood. But that was not always the case. In fact, when the first vacancy occurred,
when William Henry Harrison died in 1841, there was widespread confusion.
Harrison had only been president for thirty days
when he died on April 4. John Tyler, who was an after-though as vice president,
was only nominally a member of the late president’s Whig party. Despite the Constitution’s directive on
presidential succession in Article II, Tyler’s legitimacy as president was
questioned.
Tyler, who immediately set about on his course, was
derided as “His Accidency” or “Acting President.” A constitutional crisis soon
developed when all members of the Cabinet, except Secretary of State Daniel
Webster, resigned over policy and political disagreements.
Thirty years ago, I purchased an interesting letter
written by Richard Rush, and today it hangs in my office. The letter was written on this day, July 26,
but in 1841. Rush was the son of the
founder Benjamin Rush, but was notable in his own right: U.S. secretary of the treasury, attorney general,
minister to England and France, and acting secretary of state.
Rush writes of the political machinations, “I can
tell you nothing about our public affairs that the newspapers do not give
you. There are rumors of approaching changes
in the cabinet at Washington and of new combinations of party there which time
will determine the truth or the falsity of it.”
In September, five of the six cabinet members
resigned; there were much fewer departments at the time. The following year, the Whigs made an abortive
effort to impeach a president elected on their party’s ticket. Tyler tried to win re-election in 1844 on a
new party, the Democratic-Republican, but the effort failed.
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