University of Virginia Library

John Tyler, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1825-March 4, 1827.

He was son of John Tyler and Mary Marot Armistead, his
wife, and was born March 29, 1790. He attended William and
Mary College in 1802 and graduated Bachelor of Arts, July 4,
1807. He studied law under Edmund Randolph and was sent
to the House of Delegates in 1811. This was the beginning of a

5 Christian, Richmond: Her Past and Present, 102.

long career of public service in which Mr. Tyler filled successively
the offices of member of the House of Delegates, member
of the Governor's Council, member of the House of Representatives,
Governor, United States Senator, member of the Convention
of 1829-1830, President (pro tem) of the Senate, Vice
President of the United States, President, Commissioner to
President Buchanan in 1861, member and President of the
Peace Convention, and member of the State Convention of that
year, member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate
States, and member-elect of the Confederate House of Representatives.
His death occurred January 18, 1862.

During his administration of the affairs of Virginia Mr.
Tyler earnestly devoted himself to the task of healing the
sectional disputes which had long convulsed the State. He was
zealous in supporting the Board of Public Works, in pushing
canals and roads through the mountains, so as to bring the
East and West closer together. Two ceremonies of dignity
and importance graced the course of his first year. At the
invitation of the Legislature he presented a sword to Commodore
Lewis Warrington for his gallant service during the War
of 1812, making a notable speech on that occasion. This was
followed by the death of Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826,
which stirred the profoundest feelings of grief in the State and
Union. Thomas W. Gilmer communicated the sad tidings in
a note which ran: "Charlottesville, July 4, 3 o'clock p. m. To
the Editors of The Enquirer: Thomas Jefferson died today 10
minutes before one o'clock. Yours in great haste."

Immediately on hearing the news, which reached Richmond
on July 6, Governor Tyler convened the council and submitted
a set of resolutions[101] prepared by him which were unanimously
adopted. These resolutions provided for placing the hall of
the House of Delegates, the Senate Chamber and the Executive
Chamber in mourning, for tolling the bell in the guardhouse,
for the firing of minute guns and for badges of mourning to be
worn by the council for one month. After a meeting of the

citizens of Richmond in the hall of the House of Delegates
at which Andrew Stevenson addressed the meeting on the
life and labors of Jefferson, Tuesday, July 11, was set apart
as a day of public mourning. When the day arrived there was
a funeral procession from the Henrico County Court House up
E Street (Main Street) to Fifth, thence to H Street (Broad)
thence down H Street to the Capitol. Here Bishop Moore
opened the exercises with prayer, and Governor Tyler delivered
an oration, which received many plaudits in the newspapers
not only of the State but outside of the State.[102]

Everybody—Republican and Federalist alike—seemed to
grieve over Jefferson's departure. It was a testimonial of
interesting import that, just a month before, Chief Justice
John Marshall, his great political antagonist, had consented
to serve as chairman of a committee to receive subscriptions
in pecuniary aid of Jefferson. This committee was appointed
at a meeting of the citizens of Richmond on June 5, 1826, when
Governor Tyler presided and Thomas Ritchie acted as secretary.
July 4 was appointed as the day for making the subscriptions
and it was a day especially suited to call to mind
Jefferson's great work. The next newspaper that came out
was July 7, but instead of announcing the results of the effort
to raise money, it came with marks of deep mourning and
announced the death of Thomas Jefferson.[103]

In his second annual message in December, 1826, Governor
Tyler commented upon the defects of the educational system,
which was entirely eleemosynary and devoted to the education
of the poor. He professed himself in favor of a universal common
school system and made suggestions to that end. The
singular immunity from crime enjoyed by Virginia at this time
was noticed by him. Out of 700,000 free white inhabitants only
136 were within the walls of a prison.

On another subject Governor Tyler showed his interest.
Virginia, during the American Revolution, had held out inducements
in land bounties for military service. For the redemption
thereof she had appropriated lands in Kentucky, West
Virginia, and by the act ceding the Northwest, the land
between the Sciota and the Little Miami rivers. But the
erection of Kentucky into an independent State had cut short
this provision and rendered it inadequate. So Governor Tyler
in a message to the Legislature January 19, 1826, urged the
claims as a duty imposed upon Congress. The Legislature
did not act at once but when Mr. Tyler became Senator he
moved for an inquiry into the matter on March 5, 1830, and
soon after a bill was passed by Congress appropriating 260,000
acres in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio in satisfaction of the claims
of the Virginia State line.[104]

Mr. Tyler did not remain Governor long enough to fill out
his second term, being elected Senator in the place of John
Randolph. On March 3, 1827, he sent a letter to the Legislature
accepting the new honor conferred upon him, and resigned
his position as Governor.