A Whig Embattled: The Presidency under John Tyler (review)

80CIVIL WAR HISTORY for specialists, the book is not jargon-laden, and the chapter introductions and conclusions are clear, even to an unitiated reader. Robert P. Swierenga Kent State University A Whig Embattled: The Presidency under John Tyler. By Robert J. Morgan. (Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, The Shoe String Press, 1974. Pp. xxi, 199. $10.00.) Robert J. Morgan's study of Tyler's presidency, originally published in 1954, has apparently been reprinted because of its timeliness in the Watergate era. Morgan's small volume discusses the whole of the Tyler administration, focusing upon the conflict between Congress and the President over constitutional, domestic, and foreign policy issues. Morgan's study lauds energetic, centralized leadership while chastising congressional efforts to plan a strong role in government. Congressional opposition to Tyler's administration—whether in the form of a vote, request for information, or refusal to approve his appointments —is uniformly labeled with "partisan," vindictive, "snyde," and other unfavorable adjectives. Tyler's vetoes, his refusal to supply requested information, or his re-submission of rejected nominees received favorable descriptive adjectives, such as "constitutional," "considered," "clever," "wise." In addition, Morgan's main theme, that Tyler was the object of partisan attack, is weakened by his insistence that parties did not exist, "merely a loose agglomeration of alliances grouped around personalities." (p. 177). Nevertheless, the heroic Tyler, "stood opposed to the aims of a powerful party" (p. 186). It is not just that the arguments of this book are out of step with our time, they are out of step with each other. Morgan, still actively teaching, wrote a brief new introduction, stating that no significant changes were necessary in the reprint. However, A Whig Embattled in particular, and the many similar books of marginal usefulness to any but a highly specialized scholar, or one interested in historiography, which are reprinted every year, could be greatly enhanced , and their market broadened considerably by adding an extended historiographical essay devoted to the years since the previous edition. Certainly a historiographical essay using the recent works on parties (Lee Bensen, Joel Silbey, Kinley Brauer, and others), foreign policy (Norman Graebner, Frederick Merk, Richard Van Alstyne, and others), and the economy and slavery (Eugene Genovese, Albert Fishlow , Douglass North, and others) would place A Whig Embattled in perspective, greatly increasing its value to historians. Thomas Schoonover University of Southwestern Louisiana ...