3. John Tyler
When it comes to unpopular presidents, unpopular even with his own cabinet members, they don’t come any bigger than John Tyler. Born on March 29, 1790, to a slave-owning Virginia family, Tyler would be exposed to politics from an early age as his father, John Tyler Sr., commonly known as Judge Tyler, served in the Virginia House of Delegates before becoming a state court judge and later Governor of Virginia and a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at Richmond.
Like father, like son, Tyler Jnr would also study law and eventually purchase his own plantation, known as Woodburn, the same year his father passed away. He would begin his rise to the highest office in the land at the age of just 21 when he was elected to represent Charles City County in the House of Delegates. He would continue to climb the political ladder until fate would hand him the presidency.
After ascending to the presidency following the death of our previous entry, William Henry Harrison became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency. As this was a first, people were unsure if the Vice President should take the reigns of power from the deceased President. There was no doubt in the mind of Tyler as he immediately took the presidential oath of office.
His belief that the President, not Congress, should set policy, made him deeply unpopular. So much so, that after he vetoed a bill establishing a national bank, all but one of his Cabinet members resigned in protest. His own party, the Whigs, wanted nothing to do with him either, so, shortly after his cabinet resigned they expelled him from the party. The House of Representatives also unsuccessfully tried to issue impeachment charges against him.
