Women in the 19C United States of America: President John Tyler's Love Poetry

Friday, December 25, 2020

President John Tyler's Love Poetry

Although John Tyler's (1790-1862) decision to annex Texas led to the violent Mexican-American War, Tyler had a sensitive side as well. After his first wife died early in his presidency, he courted the much younger Julia Gardener (1820-1889). In a poem he wrote for her, he contemplated giving love a second chance:

"Shall I again that Harp unstring,
Which long hath been a useless thing,
Unheard in Lady's bower?"

Francesco Anelli (Italian-born American artist, 1805-1878) Julia Gardiner Tyler, second wife of President John Tyler c 1846

President Tyler's first wife Letitia Christian Tyler (1790-1842) died in the fall of 1842. Julia Gardiner had met President Tyler in January of 1842. In the spring of 1843, the widowed Tyler saw Julia again at a card party at the White House. He was smitten by the young beauty, nearly 30 years his junior. He asked her to marry him within weeks, but she didn't immediately agree.

In February of 1844, both were on a new steam frigate, when a huge naval gun exploded, killing a number of people, including Julia's father. This shared trauma seemed to draw them together. The next June, Julia married John Tyler in a secret ceremony in her home state of New York.

President John Tyler (1790-1862), painting by "Hart," c 1841–45

The 24-year-old stepped into the role of First Lady with vigor & became a new kind of First Lady. She was the 1st to pose for a daguerreotype; to hire a press agent; to dance at a White House party; and to be constantly accompanied by 12 "maids of honor," six on each side, all dressed alike.

John Tyler only served 1 term, so Julia's tenure as First Lady was over in a few months. The couple returned to Virginia, & had 7 children to expand Tyler's original family of 8 children.

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”