1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,199 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: show that unmasks history one day at a time. I'm 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: Gabe Luesier, and in this episode, we're talking about one 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,119 Speaker 1: of the most disturbing acts of protest ever committed on 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: the White House lawn. The day was August sixteenth, eighteen 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: forty one. An angry mob gathered outside the White House 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: and burned an effigy of President John Tyler. Most of 9 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: the rioters were members of Tyler's own political party, the Whigs. 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,599 Speaker 1: The President had just vetoed their bill to re establish 11 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: the country's national bank, so they decided to voice their 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: disapproval in the most dramatic fashion they could think of. 13 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: They gathered on Tyler's front porch and set fire to 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: a crude, scarecrow like figure that was made to look 15 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: just like him. The first Bank of the United States 16 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: was championed by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. 17 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: He believed that establishing a government sponsored national bank was 18 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: vital to the young country's financial future. According to him, 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: it would stabilize the nation's credit, provide a repository for 20 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: federal funds and handle the job of issuing currency. The 21 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 1: bank was ultimately chartered by Congress and approved by President 22 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: George Washington in seventeen ninety one, but from the very 23 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: beginning many in government, including Thomas Jefferson and Washington himself, 24 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: were wary of the idea of a federal bank. They 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: worried that such a bank was unconstitutional, as it would 26 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: force the states to host branches of the bank within 27 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: their borders, in direct competition with banks they chartered themselves. 28 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: In the end, Washington was swayed by Hamilton's arguments and 29 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: decided to back the bank bill after all. However, once 30 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson became president, he and his fellow anti federalists 31 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: began to undermine the bank by gradually reducing its power 32 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: and importance. By eighteen eleven, the institution had been so 33 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: diminished that Congress let the bank's twenty year charter expire 34 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: and made no attempt to renew it. A second federal 35 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: bank was later established in eighteen nineteen, but multiple Congressional 36 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: attempts to recharter it were struck down by Presidents Andrew 37 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Despite those setbacks, supporters of 38 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: the National Bank were confident that Van Buren's successor, fellow 39 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: Whig member William Henry Harrison, would quickly re establish the 40 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: bank once he took office, But as you probably know, 41 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: Harrison never got the chance, as he famously died just 42 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: thirty one days after his inauguration. Upon Harrison's death in 43 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency, 44 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: establishing a custom of succession that still followed today. The 45 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: Whigs expected Tyler to tow the party line and throw 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: his support behind an agenda crafted by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay. However, Tyler, 47 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,279 Speaker 1: a former Democrat, wasn't a fan of the Whigs policy proposals. 48 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: He had just inherited a highly unstable economy, and throwing 49 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: a federal bank into the mix would have only increased 50 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: that volatility. He believed, as others had before him, that 51 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: a central bank would violate states' rights and would only 52 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: benefit the financial elite, namely the private investors who would 53 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: own most of the bank shares. The President voiced his 54 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: opposition well in advance, but his fellow Whigs and Congress 55 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: refused to listen. Senator Clay's bill passed both houses that summer, 56 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: and many hoped its success would compel the President to 57 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: back down and sign it, but he didn't. On August sixteenth, 58 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: Tyler vetoed the bank bill and sent a message to 59 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: Congress explaining why. Before entering upon the duties of the 60 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: presidential office, he wrote, I took an oath that I 61 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: would preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 62 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: He then went on to say that supporting the Whigs 63 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: bank scheme would be a violation of that oath, something 64 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: that he considered quote, a crime which I would not 65 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: wilfully commit to gain any earthly reward, and which would 66 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: justly subject me to the ridicule and scorn of all 67 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: virtuous men. Tyler's veto shouldn't have come as a surprise 68 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: to the bank's congressional backers, but they had convinced themselves 69 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: that Tyler, an unelected president, wouldn't dare defy the will 70 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: of his own party. But it turned out that he 71 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: did dare, and when the Whigs found out about the veto, 72 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: they took it as a betrayal and flew into a 73 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: collective rage. Later that night, after several hours of drinking, 74 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: some members of Congress decided to pay Tyler a visit. 75 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: They gathered on the White House lawn and started blowing 76 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: horns and throwing rocks at the building. Then some men 77 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: fired guns into the air and shouted down with the veto. 78 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: The President and his family were awakened by the noise 79 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: and were said to be quite fearful for their safety, 80 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: as the residents had minimal security in the district of 81 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: Columbia did not yet have a police force. Thankfully, someone 82 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: in the upstairs quarters placed lit candles in the windows, 83 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: and the light scared off the mob. However, a few 84 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: hours later, a second, even rowdier group arrived at the mansion. 85 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: They brought along a large, life sized doll dressed as 86 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: President Tyler, which they proceeded to hang by the neck 87 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: from a tree. Then they set the figure on fire 88 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: and left shortly afterward. Other American figures had been burned 89 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: in effigy before, including John Jay and President James Madison, 90 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: but such a display of symbolic violence had never happened 91 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: on the White House doorstep, and certainly not in clear 92 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: view of the President and his face. One year later, 93 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: the incident led Congress to expand the small security force 94 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: in DC into a proper police force, ensuring that the 95 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: city would also be patrolled at night. In the weeks 96 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: that followed the riot, Senator Clay helped put together a 97 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: new Central Bank bill with a few minor adjustments. Once again, 98 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,479 Speaker 1: both houses of Congress passed the bill, and once again 99 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: President Tyler killed it with a veto. That time, the 100 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: Whigs didn't form a drunken mob or set any dolls 101 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: on fire. Instead, they voted to formally expel the president 102 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: from their ranks, making him, as Henry Clay put it, 103 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: a president without a party. The hits didn't stop there either, 104 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: as not long after, Tyler's entire cabinet resigned in protest, 105 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: except that is for Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State. 106 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: By the time Tyler left office, his political career was 107 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: essentially over. He had paid a steep price for standing 108 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: up to his own party, but in doing so, he 109 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: remained true to his oath and to his own conscience 110 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: that commitment to country over party is something that every 111 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: president should strive to live up to, even now, whether 112 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: the mob likes it or not. I'm Gabe Lucier, and 113 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 114 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. You can learn even more about 115 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at 116 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, 117 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: you can send him my way by writing to This 118 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for 119 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 120 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class.