Presidential Biographies | Tyler Administration - Tyler's Advisers

Tyler's Advisers

Tyler began his administration in the unusual position of having no close friends or advisers in the cabinet he inherited from President Harrison. Instead, he began to rely for support on a group of strong states's-rights supporters, dominated by men from his home state of Virginia: congresspeople Nathan Beverly Tucker, Thomas Gilmer, Henry Wise, and Francis Mallory; Abel
P. Upshur, a judge of the General Court and later a Tyler cabinet member; and Senator William C. Rives, Tyler's staunchest supporter in the Senate. The closeness of this group led enemies such as Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky to cry out against the "Virginia Cabal" that was, he accused, effectively governing the nation under Tyler. Several biographers of Tyler have pointed out, however, that while this clique was in the habit of offering much advice to Tyler, he was as likely to reject it as to accept it. He was generally suspicious of their...