Professor Christopher Leahy – John Tyler
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Noted Author & Lecturer
Professor of History Keuka College
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President Without a Party: The Life of John Tyler
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In what the Wall Street Journal calls the “most comprehensive [John] Tyler biography in 80 years,” Dr. Leahy’s book, President Without a Party: The Life of John Tyler, profiles a leader that historians have long viewed as one of the nation’s least effective heads of state. It’s the first full-scale biography of Tyler in more than 50 years, and the first new academic study of him in eight decades.
Episode #1
Q: Professor Christopher Leahy – John Tyler – Intro
A:
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Focus on Southern politics; ante-Bellum
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Studied under William Cooper
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Tyler 18th century
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Tyler - Raised to become a politician, leader
Episode #2
Q: What were the Whigs?
A:
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Political party formed in 1834
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Anti-Andrew Jackson
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Tyler joins the Whigs
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Ideology: Nationalism, Central Bank, Tariffs
Episode #3
Q: Could a Whig support States’ Rights?
A:
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Tyler was miscast as a Whig
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Henry Clay was the Whig leader – nationalist
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Some Whigs were States’ Rights Whigs!
Episode #4
Q: How do historians portray Tyler?
A:
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Historians cast Tyler as a rigid ideologue
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Historians posit that Tyler’s presidency was doomed
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Leahy: more nuanced approach
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Middle of the road, bi-partisan
Episode #5
Q: What kind of a “person” was Tyler?
A:
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Well-deserved reputation: genial, affable
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Family relationships suffered because of political career
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Holds presidential record for most kids – 15
Episode #6
Q: What were Tyler’s main accomplishments?
A:
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Domestically Tyler was stymied as a man without a party
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Main accomplishments were in foreign affairs
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Annexation of Texas
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Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1842 between USA and England
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Opening to China
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Staking USA claim to Hawaii in the Pacific
Episode #7
Q: Could Tyler have helped prevent the Civil War?
A:
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Annexation of Texas was a seminal event to road of Civil War
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Historians debate if Civil War was inevitable
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Tyler acted true to who he was; could not have done differently
Episode #8
Q: What was Tyler’s view on slavery?
A:
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Jeffersonian notion that slavery was a necessary evil
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Blamed British for slavery
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At times, took a somewhat pro-slavery stance
Episode #9
Q: Who was Mordecai Noah?
A:
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Prominent New York politician inn 1830s, 1840s
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Jacksonian Democrat, ran Tammany Hall
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Strong supporter of Tyler, head of NY campaign
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Represented Tyler in dealings in south
Episode #10
Q: Was Tyler’s letter to Jacob Ezekiel significant?
A:
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Tyler was a religious pluralist, not a regular Church goer
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Enlightened view of other religions
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Letter to Jacob Ezekiel regarding America as a Christian country
Episode #11
Q: What was behind naming Warder Cresson consul to Palestine?
A:
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Cresson was a Quaker who converted Judaism
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Family tried to have him committed to an insane asylum
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Appointment actually came from Secretary of State Calhoun