And John Tyler, Too! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Right of Succession

The U.S. Constitution was vague concerning the official status of a vice president who succeeds a sitting president due to death, removal from, or resignation of the office. Some of the movers and shakers in Washington viewed Tyler as "acting president," meaning he was able to perform and discharge the duties and responsibilities of the office, but didn't occupy the presidency itself. Tyler did not concur.

He interpreted that he ascended to the office, not just the responsibilities. Congress eventually backed him up by voting to formally recognize him as president, thereby setting the precedent for future vice presidents who took over the office in mid-term.

Answer: His Accidency

It was NOT a term of endearment.

Answer: Daniel Webster

The Whigs, the party of Harrison and Tyler, were trying to revive the national bank that Andrew Jackson had dismantled during his presidency. Twice Congress forwarded bills for Tyler's signature. Twice he used the veto and twice the veto was sustained by the Congress. Being good little Whigs, and being more devoted to Henry Clay than the good of the party and/or country, the entire Cabinet, save for Webster, resigned on September 11, 1841.

The move was designed to make Tyler a president without party backing, effectively ending any chance of being elected to his own term.

Answer: four

The four that preceded him were his eldest child, Mary, who died in 1848 at the age of 33, his fourth-born, Elizabeth, who died from complications in childbirth at the age of 27 in 1850, and Alice, his fifth child, who died from colic in 1854, also at 27. Anne died in infancy in 1825. All four were children from his first marriage. Tyler had his children so spread out in birth years (45 years from first to last) that these children were gone long before his youngest child, Pearl, was born in 1860.

She died in 1947, over one hundred years after her father became president.

Answer: Violin

Tyler learned to play the violin from his father, and quite well, I might add. After he retired from public life, he often performed for guests at parties. His second wife, Julia, sometimes accompanied him on the guitar.

Answer: True

In February 1844, President Tyler, along with Ms. Gardiner, her father, and members of Tyler's cabinet, was on board the USS Princeton, a new warship. During this informal inspection, the crew had been firing practice rounds from the ship's main gun, nicknamed the "Peacemaker." It was, at that time, the largest naval gun in the world. On the third firing, the gun exploded at the breech, killing David Gardiner, Julia's father. Also among the casualities were Secretary of State Abel Upshaw and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer. Because of this tragedy, the President and Miss Gardiner decided to keep the wedding celebration low key, and were quietly married in New York City that June.

Answer: It fixed the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.

This boundary had long been in dispute. Both the U.S. and Canada had laid claim to roughly 12,000 square miles along the Aroostook River. Things finally boiled over in 1839 when Canadian officials arrested Rufus McIntire, an American, who had been trying to expel Canadian citizens from the region on the orders of Maine officials.

The resulting Aroostock "War," if it can be called that, was really nothing more than a staring contest between Canadian and Maine militias. It could have, however, escalated into something much worse. Working upon a truce that had been arranged in 1839 by President Van Buren's envoy, Winfield Scott, the treaty awarded 7,000 square miles of the disputed area to the U.S. and set the present-day border between Maine and Canada, as well as making minor adjustments which settled the U.S.-Canadian border from the East Coast to the Rockies.

Answer: Virginia

Tyler's father, also John Tyler, served as governor of Virginia from 1809-1811.

Answer: William & Mary

Tyler enrolled in William & Mary's prep school at the age of 12, and graduated from the university five years later. He then studied law under his father, and then in the office of Edmund Randolph, the first U.S. Attorney General. In 1809, at the young age of 19, John Tyler was admitted to the bar in Virginia.

Answer: Virginia

In February of 1861, Tyler served as chairman of a committee that hoped to prevent war. After its failure, Tyler pushed for Virginia's secession from the Union, and served as a member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy. Elected to the Confederate House of Representatives in November 1861, Tyler died before he could officially take his seat as a member.