She was not happy her husband had been elected president. She never made it to washington. When he resigned, he and his wife and their family moved here to williamsburg. It was here that Letitia Tyler suffered a stroke. John tyler learned he was elected as Vice President of William Perry region William Henry harrison. It is here that he became 10th president of the United States, so she learned she became the first lady. She had another terrible stroke, and her husband goes into morning, and then he meets another young lovely in her 20s. I think of her as the madonna of first ladies. She posed as a model at a time that was frowned upon, by all accounts was bewitching. There were 90 slaves, and they were her supervision. Julia lobbied for her husband, and she supported him tremendously in everything she did. Untimely death, a secret marriage, and outsize personality are stories of the women we examined tonight. Good evening, and welcome to the Season Series of first ladies. William Henry Harrison was in office, and a month later, he dies. To learn about time, we have the chair of the history department, and she has been working with us many times on this series. Nice to see you again. School children have all grown up with the phrase, tippecanoe tyler too. He was elected at age of 68, a record no president beat until ronald reagan. Who was this . I announce with a bit of pride he was from my home county, but he moved to ohio. He was a military man initially. He studied medicine for a short time and decided to join the military and shortly thereafter moved to ohio. He became the territorial governor of indiana and was a noted indian fighter. The term tippecanoe comes from the battle of tippecanoe, where he fought with his brother. As territorial governor, tyler was harrison was instrumental in securing land for white settlers, and that clashed with native american interest, so ive done battle, harrison was considered the victor. At that battle, harrison was considered the victor. It carried him into public office. His wife was not happy about him being drawn back into politics. We have a quote from her that says, i wish my husbands friends have left him where he was, happy and contented. How was he drawn into politics again . Lets talk about what type of political spouse he was. It is an interesting time, because it is the time of the second American Party system. There are two distinct parties, the Democratic Party with Andrew Jackson as leader and the whig party. William Henry Harrison becomes a member of the weak party after it was founded. He was the first candidate for the whig party after it was founded. He was the first candidate for that party in 1836. The democrats were divided enough they could win. Anna harrison had been with him through a long political career. What do we know about her . We know she was a religious woman. We know she was a reluctance first lady. She did not get to be first lady and the white house, because the day her husband and other members of the family left to go to washington, she was too ill to travel. The day she was all packed up and ready to join him in washington was the day she got notification he died. How did he die . That is an interesting question. The answer was always that he was not going to wear a top hat and topcoat to his inauguration, and he was exposed to cold weather and caught a cold and died. I think it is more complex than that. He was an older gentleman. He was exhausted by Office Seekers in the first month of his presidency, and i think all of that compromised his health, so he did eventually catch a bad cold that turns into pneumonia, and as a consequence, he did die. Anna harrison was the first first lady to have a public education. But she certainly did read political journals, but i do not believe she was a political person. I do not believe she would have the role other first ladies would later on, especially the person who follows her. The second person, john tylers second wife, but at least during the time, even though she did not come to the white house, she did use her influence to get appointments for her nephews and sons and grandsons, so she would have been political in that way but not the way he would think of with someone like julia tyler. Which we will learn more of tonight. And this comment, she must have had good genes. What was going on in the Harrison Family that it produced so Many Political leaders . They were one of the first families of virginia, so you would have had them be involved in the revolution. They have a long history of political involvement. I think it is where they are located by the mid 1800s in the northwest territory, in this area that is opening up in the country, and these men are getting politically involved because of its. Our Facebook Page asks, is it true she helped raise her son who became president . Any influence she had on her son who became president . Her home burned, and she went to live with one of the sons. What influence she had, we do not know. Grandmas to have an influence. There was only a month in the white house, but there were some social things and had to happen. How did that role get fulfilled without first lady . There were two other women who carry out her duties. One was jane irving harrison, who was a widow. She was married to one of the harrison men, but he died. Now William Henry asked her to serve in that capacity, and she was assisted by one of her aunts. She gave her some guidance. She was not the official hostess, but she did give guidance. Is it true Dolly Madison also was around to offer advice . I think she offered advice whenever she got away with it. She would have been nearby from time to time. One last thing legacy was she was the first president ial window to get attention for her service. How did that happen . For husband died in office, and she needed the assistance, so congress inappropriate 35,000 for her. Which was not an on substantial amount of money. When he dies in office this is the first time this has happened. Did it create a constitutional crisis . It certainly did. The constitution does indicate if the president is not there, those duties on the Vice President , but it did not say what the status of that person would be. Would he be carrying out the duties as Vice President , as acting president , or as the new president , sir john tyler decided he was not going to let them thing too long about it, so he declared himself president , and he had Congress Pass resolutions declaring him president. Not everyone agrees with that, so occasionally mail came to new the white house addressed to the acting president or the Vice President , and he had those documents returned unopened. Who was tyler . He was born in virginia. He lived only a couple of miles down the road from the harrison a state. He was born in green way. He was an interesting president , because although he was elected on the ticket with William Henry harrison, he had been a jacksonian democrats early on in his political career and had joined the whig party, but once he became president , he abandoned the weak platform and angered them. We are going to learn more about the john tyler presidency and the women who served as his first lady. We are going to introduce you to the lives they had not been what we call Colonial Williamsburg. When john tyler resigned from the senate, he and his wife and their families moved here to williamsburg to establish a law practice. He reconstructed his law office. The house they live in was no longer here. They were situated in the center of the town. The court house is right across the street. This is the beating heart of williamsburg, even in the 1830s, so all of the political activity, the social activity, they are living in the center of it in this fantastic 18th century house. John tyler was resurrected in his political career. She is going to be operating out of the house. Right here, Letitia Tyler suffered a stroke in 1839. That partly would paralyze her, although she was able to regain control of the Family Business while john tyler was getting involved in politics. It was in this space john tyler learned he was elected as Vice President to William Henry harrison, and it was also here in the spring of 1841 he was informed he became the 10th president of the United States, and it was here that she learned she became the first lady of the United States. Now we are back on set, and joining us is the gentleman you saw on the video. He is a Colonial Williamsburg historian. He is also an expert on the area where the tylers hail from. Give us a sense of what kind of characteristics of a person of public life would bring from the office from having been there. I think when you are talking about virginia, you are getting over the American Revolution, not letting go of Thomas Jefferson and the kind of revolutionary principles but are supposed to inform public conduct and public virtue, but by the time you get to john tylers career, those things start to coalesce into notions about states rights, notions about what is the proper use of the constitution, notions about the extent of authority. You hear them talk a great deal about the principles of 1798, about the kentucky resolution and the ability of the states to override a unconstitutional actions, so these principles of the American Revolution are being fought over, but also the kinds of things that come from the expectation of a public leader. They need to be virtuous. That is the only way you can make a good Public Policy. Stephanie johnson wants to know where did they meet. They met where almost everybody meets at the time. In williamsburg. They lived not that far from each other. John tyler is from Charleston County in a place called green way, and Letitia Tyler is from kent county, which is only a stones throw away, and we know they met in about 1811 or 1812. John tyler went to william and mary with letitias brother. They were the same age. They were 21 and 22 when they met, and they fell in love very quickly. We have been incorporating your tweets. Can also call us. We are hoping you texans call up, because this administration was responsible for the annexation of texas. The tylers have a lot of children. It is what kept them apart for a great deal of their married lives. John tyler was constitutionally incapable of being out of public office. He was addicted to it so left her at home to run the family, to run the business, and to continue to manage this Incredible Group of children they had almost from the very start. Running their plantation would have been how large an operation . One of the issues is a are always on the very edge of solvency, so they never live one place more than 10 years. They are always moving around. They own between 30 and 35 slaves, and they are growing wheat and corn for about 600 acres to 900 acres, and that is between plantations. They then moved to the other side of virginia, so they are continuing to try to figure out a way during these striking economic changes to the country and go into what is going on in 1837, to find a way they can keep their heads above water, and with john tyler gone for so long and so often, six months out of every year while the is in public office, this leaves a lot of burden resting on letitias shoulders. This was a tough woman. She had a stroke and was paralyzed and continued to handle operations. That is indicative of the kind of life women live, even wealthy women. Life was tough for them, but it was made easier for them by enslaved laborers, and they did use those to great advantage for them. What is known for their attitude at this point toward slavery . We know quite a bit. John tyler is one of the staunchest supporters of slavery that ever inhabited the white house. He was vocal about it through most of his career, and he said, slavery is the greatest property a southerner can own. He believes it is the backbone of society. Letitia we know less about. We know from a story that ends up in abolitionist press in the 19th century of a former enslaved man who had been a member of a Christian Family who recalled that john taylor may have been less kind to enslave men and women in the field, but when it came to the enslaved men and women in the household, he stopped right there. They were under letitias protection. They were treated well. You could read into a story like that, but john tylers views were consistent. Letitia was different. Here is 1840 view of america through the senses. The population reached 17 million in 26 states. We consistently see 30 . Slaves 2. 5 million, which is almost 15 of the population, and new orleans joins the list of the largest cities in the United States. We heard about the tylers and their attitude toward slavery. Give us an indication of what was happening in 1840. This is a tremendous time of sexual tension. We like to think the country is divided regionally, that everyone in the north is anti slavery and everyone in the south is proslavery. It is not that simple. People in the north benefited from slavery and the slave trade until it was ended. They now move into a different economic arena. They no longer need slavery, and slippery as a threat to them because of the free labor system in the north, and the kinds of the economy that is needed to preserve institutions in the north are different from those in the south, so what is happening in congress is both groups want to control legislation, because if you are in more industrialized regions, we want certain parts of laws passed to preserve the economy. If you are more agrarian, you will need laws to support that. There is a tremendous amount of concern about the expansion of slavery. It is not so much the northerners are anti slavery because they are humanitarian. It is because of how slavery impacts them or how expansion impacts them. Our first caller from michigan. And now i love the series. I would like to know what is the duration of both of the president s marriages, and how many children would he have as a result of those marriages . Thank you so much. I saw one book and referred to john tyler was the father of our country. I think they have 16 or 17 children. I did the total was 15. Now there were 8 by letitia and 7 by julia. He was married to letitia for 29 years, and he was married to julia for 18. The tylers learn of the fact they are coming to the white house and he is the 10th president of the United States. Her health is precarious. How does she carry out the role as first lady . It depends on how you define the role. What is first lady . Is it somebody married to the president , or do they have to fulfill these roles . She is by nature a retired person. She prefers a quiet life. Now she does not like the kind of quiet activities of first lady who would normally associate with. Even without her illness, i think it would have been a fairly quiet white house. That does not mean there are not other people to fulfill these roles. That means she has to have other people do it for them. It is a closeknit family. They have a lot of daughters living in the white house. She turned that over to them. Gary robinson asked, what role did Priscilla Cooper have in the white house and after her death . She served as hostess, and especially with the daughter, letitia, she is an interested person, because she was an actress at a time when it was not a good thing. It was not considered respectable, but the tylers and accepted her. Letitia accepted her. She was very close to her. She would have been performing most of the functions. It is not so much that she was not doing anything. Even though she was disabled, she is still giving orders from her bedroom. She cannot go out the way her daughter can. Do we have any evidence his daughter counseled him . Yes. She said, stay out of it. As we talk about it, he could not stay out of politics. She gave up. As we mentioned over and over again, he respected her prudence and judgment that political issues he reserved those for conversations with his male friends. There were conversations about whether there should be appropriations for this Vice President but assumed the presidency and whether they should pay for his time in the white house, yet you ascertain they pay for so much. How did they do that . They did not appropriate money. The white house was and i absolute mess at that time. He must have used his own funds to entertain people, and they did entertain lavishly. How did they do that . You assume a lot of this is coming out of the salary. One of the people who was most extravagant was john tyler himself. He spends most of his life handing his family, trying to keep them outside of it, yet there are lavish entertainment, so for some they are taking a page out of the book. She will hold two formal dinner parties every week. Every other week she will do public receptions in the evenings. She will hold public parties every month that will have as many as 1000 people. She opened the white house on new years eve. She opened the white house on july 4. She started the tradition on the south lawn. They are finding ways to do that. They might be doing it with mirrors, because congress does not appropriate a cent for the upkeep of the white house during his term as president. Next, a call from marvin in los angeles. By next question has to do with the constitution. It says, the electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for two persons, for whom cannot be from the same state. If both of them