Even as President John Tyler Readies to Move to Annex Texas, He Pushes Aside a Letter Seeking to Notify Him of Supposed British Designs on Texas

He passes his correspondent off to Congressman Henry Wise, a strong Tyler supporter and rabid pro-slavery advocate

Having completed the Webster–Ashburton treaty in August 1842, and some other diplomatic efforts, by early 1843 Tyler felt ready to pursue Texas. Now lacking a party base, he saw annexation of the republic as his only pathway to independent re-election in 1844. For the first time in his career he was willing to play “political hardball” to see it through. Opponents were strongly opposed to adding a new slave state. There was much talk at the time that the British had their eye on Texas, which conflicted with the ambitions of Americans in this era of Manifest Destiny. But Texans were more interested in joining the United States than in an alliance with Britain, as most of them were Americans. By early 1844, Secretary of State Abel Upshur negotiated a treaty with Texas to join the Union. But secrecy about the negotiations was necessary, as the Constitution required Congressional approval for such military commitments and Tyler did not have a lot of friends in Congress. Upshur planted rumors of possible British designs on Texas to drum up support among Northern voters, who were otherwise opposed to the admission of Texas. So much of the talk of the British interest in Texas may have been planted by Tyler and Upshur.

Before he moved to Texas in 1835, Andrew J. Yates he had won recognition as a lawyer, college professor, and author and had acquired a considerable fortune. He soon won the confidence of Stephen Austin and Sam Houston. When the Texas Revolution broke out, Yates immediately joined the army, but late in December 1835 he was appointed loan commissioner and served under Austin in his efforts to raise funds and supplies in the United States for the Texas army. Yates’s special business was to attend to the legal and clerical details of the loan negotiations and to purchase boats, munitions, and other supplies for the newly-declared Republic of Texas. Yates favored a gradual abolition of slavery.

Henry A. Wise served as a U.S. Representative from Virginia from 1833 to 1844. A Democrat, he broke with the Jackson administration over the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. He became a Whig and strong supporter of fellow Virginian John Tyler. Wise was re-elected as a Whig in 1836, 1838, and 1840. While in Congress, Wise was the opponent of John Quincy Adams in the latter’s attempt to end the pro-slavery gag rule and opposed ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Adams described Wise in his diary as “loud, vociferous, declamatory, furibund [raging], he raved about the hell-hound of abolition…” Wise also supported the annexation of Texas, so was a natural ally to Tyler. He would end up as a Confederate general and wartime governor of Virginia.
In March 1843, Yates wrote a letter to a British citizen named Converse that was widely printed in American newspapers, and created the impression that British diplomat Charles Elliott had told him with the British government’s authority, that Great Britain was actively interested in procuring abolition in Texas. This caused an uproar in America. Elliott wrote Lord Aberdeen, Britain’s Foreign Minister, in July 1843, saying “The impressions that the abolition of Slavery in this Republic would be agreeable in England, and that it would be practicable to raise a loan there on the Security of the lands in Texas, in furtherance of that object, are probably entertained by many persons in this Country. But whether such views be well founded or not, it is the fact that Mr. Yates has been conveying to Mr. Converse his own inferences and impressions in these particulars, and not what I said to him.”

Autograph letter signed, as President, Charles City County, May 28, 1843, to a Mr. Welford who wanted to be sure the slave-holding president was apprised of what he saw as British interference. Tyler clearly thought this was a tempest in a teapot, or perhaps he knew full well that rumors of British involvement were being spread by his own partisans, and passed along the writer to Wise. “I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th instant, and regret to say that I have no recollection of having received the intelligence in regard to Mr. Yates to which you allude. If I did receive any such information, I certainly communicated it to Mr. Wise, and may have done so without at that time remembering it. A letter to Mr. Wise would doubtless be responded to promptly.”

Tyler dissembling about this important question would not have been a surprise to many. Representative Edward Stanly of North Carolina complained of Tyler: “He lies like a dog.”