In Praise of John Tyler

Yes, he was a flawed man (the fact that he held slaves of course being his greatest sin) and a product of his era. But there is also a great deal to like about Tyler. a) The fact that he settled and reassured the country after the death of Harrison. b) The fact that he stood up to his own party (the Whigs) and opposed a lot of their more destructive policies; wasteful spending (also referred to as "internal improvements"), central banking, tariffs, etc.. c) The fact that he ended the second Seminole War and did so peacefully. And d) The fact that he, through the Webster-Ashburn Treaty, normalized relations with Britain and in so doing helped to end the slave trade, the border conflict between Maine and New Brunswick, etc. If I were to put him in my rankings, he'd probably be somewhere in the top half of the draw.