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From today's featured article
John Tyler (1790–1862) was the
tenth
President of the United States (1841–45). He served as a Virginia
state legislator ,
governor ,
U.S. representative , and
senator before his
election as vice president in 1840 on the
Whig Party
ticket led by
William Henry Harrison . He became the first vice president to
succeed to the presidency without being elected to the office after his
running mate 's death in April 1841. Taking the
oath of office , he immediately moved into the White House and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually become codified in the
Twenty-fifth Amendment . He found much of the Whig program
unconstitutional , and vetoed several of his party's bills. The Whigs, led by Kentucky Senator
Henry Clay , dubbed him "His Accidency", and expelled him from the party. Stalemated on domestic policy, Tyler had several foreign-policy achievements, including the
Webster–Ashburton Treaty with
Britain and the
Treaty of Wanghia with
Qing China . He dedicated his last two years in office to the
annexation of Texas , then retired to his Virginia plantation. When the
Civil War began in 1861, Tyler won election to the
Confederate House of Representatives shortly before his death. (
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