Beschreibung:

TYLER, JOHN, President. Autograph letter signed ("Yr. Father John Tyler") to Robert Tyler his eldest son, Sherwood Forest, [Virginia], 11 March 1847. 1 3/4 pages, folio, 344 x 210mm. (13 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.), tipped at one edge to larger sheet, minimal losses at intersectional folds (not affecting text), a few discreet repairs, one name in text has been neatly erased. FINE CONDITION. [ With ] Autograph free frank ("JTyler") on integral address leaf addressed by Tyler to his son, no postmark. TYLER DENOUNCES CALHOUN'S STANCE ON TEXAS, THE WILMOT PROVISO AND THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY A letter of considerable interest reflecting the national controvery over the Mexican War, the Wilmot Proviso and the issue of the extension of slavery, in which Tyler expresses his strong disapproval of the position taken by a Southerner, his former Secretary of State, John Caldwell Calhoun. "I am happy to say to you that [name erased] is appointed a Captain in the U.S. Army. He promised me to abandon the use of ardent spirits if I got him a Capt[ainship]. The consideration was so very valuable, that I wrote directly to the President [James K. Polk] who has lost no time in making the appointment. Last night documents came from the adjutant Gen[era]ls office addressed to him as Captain... Calhoun has confirmed his character for extreme selfishness by his swi[t]ch on the war - [Thomas Hart] Benton sought through C's unpopularity to reestablish himself in the ground he had lost in the election of 1844 -- by ascribing every thing to Calhoun, and the latter was weak enough to swallow the bait. I am strongly tempted to give a full history of the whole affair. He represents the Executive powers as being in abeyance when in fact it was most active -- and then to cause the whole question to turn on the question of slavery? It is too bad..." As President, Tyler favored the annexation of Texas, as did Calhoun. Three days prior to his leaving office, Tyler signed a Congressional measure that allowed Texas into the Union as both a free and slave state; it was to be divided at 36 degrees, at the 30th parallel as designated by the Missouri Compromise. Calhoun was not asked to continue as Secretary of State under President Polk's administration, but he returned to Washington in 1846 as a Senator for South Carolina. Even though Calhoun supported the annexation of Texas, he opposed war with Mexico. Once the Mexican War began Polk asked Congress for $2,000,000 to acquire new territory when negotiations with Mexico began. Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot, however, proposed that the money be approved only if slavery was not allowed to expand to any part of the newly acquired territory. Although the Wilmot Proviso never passed, it sparked divisive debates in which Calhoun vigorously argued against any limitation to the extension of slavery. While Calhoun knew Texas' terrain would not support the plantation industry and slave labor, nevertheless he vociferously opposed the Wilmot Proviso, because he viewed it as a direct affront to the Southern way of life and Southern slaveholders' rights. Tyler was probably referring to Calhoun's zealousness on this subject when he lamented, "He represents the Executive powers [as having been] in abeyance when in fact it [Tyler as President] was most active -- and then to cause the whole question to turn on the question of slavery? It is too bad..."