what party did john tyler belong to?
Democratic Party Independent Whig Party
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 Tyler , born to an eminent Virginia family , came to national prominence at a time of political upheaval . In the 1820s the nation 's only political party , the Democratic @-@ Republicans , split into factions . Though initially a Democrat , his opposition to Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren led him to ally with the Whig Party . Tyler served as a Virginia state legislator , governor , U.S. representative , and U.S. senator before his election as vice president in the presidential election of 1840 . He was put on the ticket to attract states ' rights Southerners to what was then a Whig coalition to defeat Van Buren 's re @-@ election bid . 

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 Tyler 's father died in 1813 , and Tyler inherited thirteen slaves along with his father 's plantation . In 1816 , he resigned his legislative seat to serve on the Governor 's Council of State , a group of eight advisers elected by the General Assembly . 

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 For Tyler , any hope of completing the Texas plan before November ( and with it , any hope of re @-@ election ) was instantly dashed . Historian Edward P. Crapol later wrote that " Prior to the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln , " the Princeton disaster " unquestionably was the most severe and debilitating tragedy ever to confront a President of the United States . " 

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 Following the custom of the times that candidates not appear to seek the office , Tyler stayed home throughout the campaign , and did not make speeches . Tyler received only 47 electoral votes , from Georgia , South Carolina and Tennessee , in the November 1836 election , trailing both Granger and the Democratic candidate , Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky . Harrison was the leading Whig candidate for president , but he lost to Van Buren . The presidential election was settled by the Electoral College , but for the only time in American history , the vice presidential election was decided by the Senate , which selected Johnson over Granger on the first ballot . 

entailment
 While Tyler wished to attend to his private life and family , he was soon swept up in the presidential election of 1836 . He had been suggested as a vice presidential candidate since early 1835 , and the same day the Virginia Democrats issued the expunging instruction , the Virginia Whigs nominated him as their candidate . The new Whig Party was not organized enough to hold a national convention and name a single ticket against Van Buren , Jackson 's chosen successor . Instead , Whigs in various regions each put forth their own preferred ticket , reflecting the party 's tenuous coalition : the Massachusetts Whigs nominated Daniel Webster and Francis Granger , the Anti @-@ Masons of the Northern and border states backed William Henry Harrison and Granger , and the states ' rights advocates of the middle and lower South nominated Hugh Lawson White and John Tyler . In Maryland , the Whig ticket was Harrison and Tyler and in South Carolina it was Willie P. Mangum for president and Tyler for vice @-@ president . The Whigs wanted to deny Van Buren a majority in the Electoral College , throwing the election into the House of Representatives , where deals could be made . Tyler hoped electors would be unable to elect a vice president , and that he would be one of the top two vote @-@ getters , from whom the Senate , under the Twelfth Amendment , must choose . 
