April 6, 1841 - John Tyler is sworn in as president; elected as William Harrison’s vice president earlier in 1841 and was suddenly thrust into the role of president when Harrison died one month into office. He was the first vice president to immediately assume the role of president after a sitting president’s untimely exit and set the precedent for succession thereafter; proponent of states’ rights and the perpetuation of slavery, and as such was a threat to his own political party, the Whigs, who advocated a strong federal system; became a president without a party who received death threats from both sides and earned the enmity of Congress. His four years in office were contentious, though he is credited with settling Canadian border disputes with Britain and beginning the annexation of Texas; denounced as a traitor by the North, Tyler fell in line with southern secessionists; 1861 - elected to the Confederate House of Representatives.

June 14, 1841 - The first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston.

July 28, 1841 - Senate narrowly passed the Fiscal Bank Bill. An initiative of the embattled Whig party, this bill called for the creation of the Fiscal Bank of the United States, a federal financial institution to be located in the District of Columbia. Whigs sought nothing less than the revival of the Second Bank of the United States, the ill-fated institution that Andrew Jackson had putatively killed in the name of states' rights earlier in the 1830s. August 16 - President John Tyler, a staunch state supporter, announced that he was vetoing the bill. The legislation bounced back to the Senate, but the Whigs failed to marshal sufficient support to override Tyler's veto.

August 16, 1841 - Former Whig ally President John Tyler vetoed a bill that would have established the Second Bank of the United States; sparked a riot outside the White House, as incensed--and drunk--members of the Whig party bombarded the White House with stones, fired their guns in the air and burned Tyler in effigy - the most violent demonstration ever held outside the White House. In response the government formed the District of Columbia's police force.

August 19, 1841 - First set of standard bankruptcy laws enacted throughout the nation; proved popular during their brief tenure, with 33,737 people utilizing the newfound right to voluntarily declare for bankruptcy.

September 11, 1841 - All the members of President Tyler's  cabinet, except for Secretary of State Daniel Webster, resigned over Tyler's decision to veto a Whig-sponsored bank bill (deemed unconstitutional by Tyler due to its mandate for state bank offices); state-centric Whigs, who had supported his rise to the Oval Office, summarily dumped the President from their party.

August 9, 1842 - The Webster-Ashburn Treaty fixed the border between Maine and Canada's New Brunswick.

August 29, 1842 - An Act of Congress authorized the design patent, a new form of patent; November 9, 1842 - George Bruce, of New York City, received first U.S. design patent for typefaces and borders.

December 19, 1842 - Hawaii's independence was recognized by the United States.

May 22, 1843 - A massive wagon train, made up of 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle, sets off down the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri; Dr. Elijah White, a Presbyterian missionary who had made the trip the year before, served as guide. Known as the "Great Emigration," the expedition came two years after the first modest party of settlers made the long, overland journey to Oregon; October 1843 - finally arrived, completing the 2,000-mile journey from Independence in five months. In the next year, four more wagon trains made the journey, and in 1845 the number of emigrants who used the Oregon Trail exceeded 3,000. Travel along the trail gradually declined with the advent of the railroads, and the route was finally abandoned in the 1870s.

June 26, 1843 - Hong Kong proclaimed a British Crown Colony.

June 26, 1844 - U.S. President John Tyler married Julia Gardiner (21) in New York City; made her the youngest first lady in history. Tyler’s first wife had been Letitia Christian, with whom he had eight children (one died in infancy). She died of a stroke in 1842. He and Julia had seven children together bringing his total to 15; Tyler holds the record for the most children sired (legitimately, at least) by a president.

November 5, 1844 - Democratic candidate James K. Polk defeated Whig party candidate Henry Clay to become the 11th President of the United States.

March 1, 1845 - President John Tyler signed a congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.

March 3, 1845 - Congress reins in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto, overrode it with the necessary two-thirds vote; Congress’ first use of the Constitutional provision allowing Congressional veto overrides and represented Congress’ parting gift to Tyler as he left office; Tyler used the presidential veto 10 times on a variety of legislation during his administration; the frequency of his use of the veto was second only to that of Andrew Jackson, who employed it 12 times during his tenure.

March 3, 1845 - Florida became the 27th state.

Oliver Perry Chitwood (1939). John Tyler, Champion of the Old South. (New York, NY: D. Appleton-Century Company, 496 p.). Tyler, John, 1790-1862; United States -- Politics and government -- 1841-1845.

Edward P. Crapol (2006). John Tyler: The Accidental President. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 344 p.). William E. Pullen Professor of American History, Emeritus (College of William and Mary). Tyler, John, 1790-1862; Presidents--United States--Biography; United States--Politics and government--1841-1845. Proved to be a bold leader who used the malleable executive system to his advantage. 

Frederick Merk, with the collaboration of Lois Bannister Merk (1971). Fruits of Propaganda in the Tyler Administration. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 259 p.). Gurney Professor of American History (Harvard University). Tyler, John, 1790-1862; Northeast boundary of the United States; United States--Politics and government--1841-1845.

Compiled by Harold D. Moser (2001). John Tyler: A Bibliography. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 293 p.). Tyler, John, 1790-1862 --Bibliography.