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WI: Acting President After William Henry Harrison's Death?

napoleon IV

Sheer Animal Cunning of the Groundhog
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When William Henry Harrison died there was considerable debate over what role his successor would have. It was unclear if the office of the Presidency devolved to the Vice President, or if the VP was merely Acting President and would mainly in a caretaker capacity. Many politicians like Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams thought it was the latter, and Harrison's cabinet determined that the VP would become "vice-President Acting President." Ultimately Vice President John Tyler decided that he was 100% President and got Congress to confirm this decision, setting a precedent that all future Vice Presidents have followed and which was codified in the 25th Amendment. But what if the Vice President had accepted that he was supposed to be only Acting President. Given Tyler's vehement insistence that he was President the best way to do this would probably be to have someone else get picked in 1840. What would the effects be for American politics and governance, and in particular how would effect Andrew Johnson's term (assuming it doesn't get butterflied away)?
 
Could a special election possibly be called?
Looking it up, that was one of the proposals made. I suppose in that case the answer to my question about Andrew Johnson is "he stays till the special election (which would probably be that November) and then leaves." But as to my larger question: does this mean the Vice Presidency could get abolished (there were a bunch of proposals to do this), how does this effect the choosing of a VP candidate, etc.?
 
Acting president until a special election is a viable interpretation of the constitutional language around the position, although not one I think *many* politicians would have taken - part of the issue was Tyler’s personality, yeah, but Harrison had also been sworn in a literal month prior and a “new” election would have seemed a bit excessive to anyone. Harrison dying later in his term is a somewhat odd WI that could circumvent this, I guess.

You’d probably end up with a few stop-gap acting presidencies before it just gets abolished and given to the president pro tempore, who may or may not still become ridiculously old.

I think any world with acting Presidents butterflies Andrew Johnson out of the position, though - never mind the fact that Taylor dying in 1850 kicks off a new election in the middle of a sectional crisis, any sort of Cabinet rule in 1841 (and probably Clay elected shortly) is not going to gut the Whig’s own economic policies and then dubiously try to annex Texas, meaning Clay and Van Buren almost certainly kick the can down the road.
 
I've given "'His Accidency' John Tyler" by John Wicker in What Ifs? of American History a re-read after seeing this thread. A typical essay for these Robert Cowley edited collections featuring little examination of how things might have changed or what might have happened instead.

I think there's three options for John Tyler not just taking the role of presidency, since there wasn't even any debate to him since he arranged his own inauguration as soon as he cold get back to D.C. following Harrison's death: the first is Harrison simply doesn't die, and the precedent is left to be set later; the second as @napoleon IV has suggested sees a different VP for Harrison, one that isn't quite keen to start redecorating as soon as his predecessor is planted; the third, suggested by @zaffre, still sees Harrison die with Tyler as his VP but a year or so down the line.

As to the first, well there's a lot more to consider from a surviving Harrison than what's Johnnie T up to, perhaps he becomes Calhoun to Harrison's Jackson. He might just occupy the position and do nothing, wouldn't be the first or the last time; or he might just alienate the President, Cabinet and Congress criticising the American System and calling for a more bullish stance on annexing Texas. Would be amusing, however unlikely, for someone to start Impeachment proceedings against the Vice President.

For the second, there seem to have been three other potential VP picks - all Southerners since Harrison was seen as a Northerner, also all seen as Henry Clay supporters since Clay wasn't too happy about not receiving the nod. John J. Crittenden, supporter of Clay and fellow Kentuckian, was the first to be named and really was a peace offering, but the Kentucky delegation still seemed to pissed off about Clay not getting the tip for top job and declined. John Bell was then offered, but again the Tennessee delegation declined, though for less clear reasons than the Kentucky delegation did for Crittenden. Willie Person Mangum, who would have been willing but turned it down as he was a member of the Convention and considered it improper, was the last potential candidate before Tyler. I think Bell might be the most plausible option with a bit of cajoling, but Tyler was both a Southerner and, at the time, a supporter of Clay, and accepted. Difficult to imagine a 'Stop Tyler' campaign without hindsight. None of the others has the alliterative appeal of 'Tippecanoe and Tyler Too' either.

The third option offers more possibilities. Say someone has the sense to trim down his speech further, or convince him of the benefits of a hat and coat, or to cut it short when the rain starts; then in the winter of 1842 he is caught outside in a downpour completely hatless and dies in similar fashion to OTL. Tyler will probably behave exactly as he did in 1841, but here there's been a year of the American System, a new Bank of the United States, and cooperation between Executive and Legislative branches. There's also elections to the House of Representatives later in 1842, which might make a special election more palatable. Tyler might start making a lot of noise about annexing Texas, which wouldn't endear him to Congress or Cabinet much more.

Suppose it depends on how well things have been going 1841-2, and how much Tyler can be portrayed as an interloper rather than an internal Whig Party fight. Tyler might also go through with a Quixotic run as an Independent for the Presidency, but can't see him winning it and might actually allow the Whigs (likely running Clay though I wonder if Scott might pull ahead of him) to slip through by drawing votes away from the more bullish on expansion Democrats (possibly running a Van Buren/Polk ticket). Wonder if this will be a special election conclude the present term with another election in 1844, or if this will be the start of a new four year term so the next election will be in 1846. Either way, the next election is likely to be a very divisive one.
 
Wonder if this will be a special election conclude the present term with another election in 1844, or if this will be the start of a new four year term so the next election will be in 1846.
I agree with most of what you said here.

In regards to this question, I fully imagine it'd be the same as special elections for Senate IOTL, with the special election happening on the set date and then the regular election happening as scheduled. If a President were to die in, say, 1859, I'd also guess that the regular election would be held as scheduled, with no special election.
 
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