Treacherous Hearted President

The Whig Party organized in opposition to Jacksonian policies and defeated Jackson’s heir-apparent, Martin Van Buren, in his bid for a second term in the 1840 election. Whig champion, William Henry Harrison, however, died only a month after his inaugural and Vice President, John Tyler failed to embrace Whig policies of federally financing internal improvements and a new Bank of the United States. The first President to reach office as a result of a predecessor’s death, there was considerable question as to Tyler’s legitimacy in assuming the position. Though a slaveholder, fellow Whig, John Botts, opposed the extension of slavery into the territories and favored a National Bank which was vetoed and thus he quickly opposed President Tyler. Botts called for a nine-member committee to investigate Tyler’s behavior with the expectation of a formal impeachment. Botts failed in his re-election bid and his bill was then tabled and eventually rejected. The verses were printed in “The Clay Club Coon Songster” (1844) to be sung to the tune of “Fine Old English Gentleman”.