Tyler's cabinet

John Tyler, 10th President of the United States

John Tyler was the first Vice President of the United States to take over after the President's death . William Henry Harrison had died on April 4, 1841, just a month after taking office . Tyler, elected at his side the previous year , like Harrison originally belonged to the Whigs , but quickly alienated himself from his own party and was expelled in the fall of 1841. In 1844 he lacked the necessary support to seriously apply for re-election.

Tyler's presidency was marked, among other things, by numerous changes in his cabinet . Of the ministers he took over from his predecessor, only Foreign Minister Daniel Webster left office that same year. This can be justified by the fact that Tyler rejected the practice of voting for important decisions among all ministers under his predecessor. However, not all replacements were made on the orders of the President; Foreign Minister Abel P. Upshur and Navy Minister Thomas Walker Gilmer, who had been in office only nine days earlier, were killed on February 28, 1844 in a shipwreck on the Potomac River. The resignation of Gilmer's predecessor David Henshaw had been forced by the opposition to Tyler Congress by refusing to confirm it. With Justice Minister Hugh S. Legaré , another cabinet member died in office.

John Tyler was the first US president to do without a deputy during his entire term in office. The constitution did not provide for the appointment of a new vice-president (before the next election) at this point in time.

The Cabinet

Department / Office	Official	Period	image
President of the United States	John Tyler	1841-1845
Vice President of the United States	vacant	1841-1845
United States Secretary of State	Daniel Webster	1841-1843
	Abel Parker Upshur	1843-1844
	John Caldwell Calhoun	1844-1845
United States Secretary of the Treasury	Thomas Ewing	1841
	Walter Forward	1841-1843
	John Canfield Spencer	1843-1844
	George Mortimer Bibb	1844-1845
United States Secretary of War	John Bell	1841
	John Canfield Spencer	1841-1843
	James Madison Porter	1843-1844
	William Wilkins	1844-1845
United States Secretary of the Navy	George Edmund Badger	1841
	Abel Parker Upshur	1841-1843
	David Henshaw	1843-1844
	Thomas Walker Gilmer	1844
	John Young Mason	1844-1845
United States Attorney General	John J. Crittenden	1841
	Hugh Swinton Legare	1841-1843
	John Nelson	1843-1845
United States Postal Secretary	Francis Granger	1841
	Charles Anderson Wickliffe	1841-1845