The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-04
THIS FAR AND NO FARTHER.
r vice Presidents Never Attained
Their Ambition.
From the Chicago Tribune.


- tpa deaths Of the men chosen to
.he chief Office, but not one Of them
80 ever been selected as candidate
the executive office, although in
s-.oral instances they made strenuous
Ysorte to obtain the promotion. These
iaental Presidents were John Ty-
~ ~ virginia who succeeded William
nl rv Harrison; Willard Fillmore of
~ York who succeeded Zachary
TTevlor; Andrew Johnson, who sue
1aaded Abraham Lincoln; Chester A.
'stbnr who succeeded James A. Gar
aid and Theodore Roosevelt, who sue
heaJ William Mckinley.
Eol,r of these stroye to dominate
raytv and failed. The fifth is
~ before the public. OF the four
NJ preceded him all were ambitious
W he elected President, but only two
s,,cceded in getting their names plac-
~ bafore the National Convention and
then only to be defeated. Tyler, Fill
u and Johnson betrayed and di-
M. ma their party. With the exception
VIZ Johnson. all succeeded in turning
o. U,.,vernment over to the opposition
W g,1,s II is a historic truth that an
,.antdental President has never been
.Socted President of the United States
- viii be interesting to consider the
reason WHY.
TYLER was a Failure.
1oh, TYLER of Virginia had been
.onrasentative in Congress, twice gov
srpor of Virginia, a member or the
T1nited States Senate and president
nro tempore of that body. He was a
PIC of the extreme Calhoun school.
WINS hod opposed Henry Clay on the
l.i4f hut voted for the compromise
.si I399 He had been opposed to the
o.aLTisbment of the United States
ponI and had voted for resolution
% ensure on President jackson Tor
rarooving the deposits on constitutional
grounds. ~. I,.a.aa.. IN
+ba whig ticket in 1885 and had been
dafeated. receiving forty-seven votes.
M reconcile all elements the wings
1oroad him for vice president in 1910
40 irTinpecanoe and Tyler, too"
.io,et and he succeeded to the presi-
sonc,, nm the death Of President Harrl-
son in 1871.
Tvler began almost at once to oppose
49, ubies and started his administra-
ZION ON Democratic lines Nominally
te was the whig leader. Actually he
was antagonistic to the wings. Henry
cav. Quick to seize an opportunity
forced a quarrel on the PRESIDENT.
TYLER aCCeDIeQ lnG SdSI "a P@SNAS'
wings controlled Congress, but the ma
iorifv was not large enough to pass
blls over the Presidents veto.
When the congressional elections
came in 1892 the effect of the division
of the party was shown in the pailots.
The Democrats won control or the
House of Representatives. But Tyler's
nolitical star had set. The wings
nominated Henry Clay for president by
reclamation at Baltimore. The Dem
ocrats did not think of Tyler in con-
nection with the nomination and chose
James X. Polk, who swept the coun-
try.
Fugitive slave Law Killed Him.
Willard Fillmore was elected Vice
President in 1S4S, when Gen. Zachary
Tavlor. returning from the Mexican
War. where he felt he had been treat
ed shabbily by the Democratic party,
was enabled by the Wings to appeal
to the country.
Fillmore succeeded to the presiden-
cv with a successful career behind him,
having been a representative in Con-
gress, controller of the state of New
York and the candidate of his party
for the governorship.
As President the wreck of his ca
reer came with the signing of the fu-
gitive slave law and the taking Of
steps to enforce it. While no one
questioned the sincerity of his mo-
tives, the temporiZing with slavery in
famed the country His authority was
defied by mobs, and the feeling ran so
high that he was regarded as a fall
ure long before the end of his term.
President Fillmore was a man of
great force, much moral courage and
breadth of view, but despite his dis
match of a arDopd fnT0a fO nr0fpHt
New Mexico in the settlement of the
Texas boundary, his checking of the
Lopez filibustering expedition to Cuba,
his sending of Perry to Japan, Ring
gold to the China seas, Lynch to Al
RIGA and Howden and Gibbon to eX-
pore the Amazon the citizens failed
to see broad man in Fillmore and
only remembered what had happened
al home.
When the Wing convention met in
Baltimore Fillmore was the leading
candidate for the presidency, being
opposed by Gen. Winfield Scott of New
Jersey and Daniel Webster.
1t was necessary to have 147 votes to
be nominated. Fillmore never got
more than 1873 during the fifty-three
ballots. Scott was nominated, receiv-
ing votes from both Fillmore and
Webster. He became the candidate of
HlV hlOW -IOlHlilE party III 1OOO oAAA
carried one state--Maryland.
JOhnsOn's Erratic Career.
Andrew Johnson became vice presi-
dent of the United States as a matter
Of political eXpediency. He had been
chosen to catch the votes of the war
Democrats. He had been Governor Of
Tennessee and United States senator.
He stood for the union, supported
President Lincoln and denounced Sc
cession. He returned to his state from
Washington, and, risking assassination,
organized the union party.
Lincoln appointed him military gov
ernor of Tennessee and johnson was
regarded as an energetic, brave and
loyal man.
When Johnson became President, af-
Ter the assassination of President Lin
coin, he denounced, in one of his first
utterances, the distractions that were
being placed in the way of the gov
eminent and declared that treason
Is crime that must be punished."
a The country breathed sigh of re-
net and regarded Johnson with high
favor. The new President for several
months had everything his own way,
congress not being in session, and
ne proceeded to organize governments |
N the Southern States after ideas |
wwnlch filled the North with alarm. |
'asrancy laws and other measures |
ssuopted in these states made it prac-
ucaliy certain that slavery would be |
0oInItnued in a new form.
G ne suspended that man of iron,
secretary Of War Stanton, and quarrel |
M. with his cabinet. When Congress |