Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Grandson Of President John Tyler Passes


Subdeacon Joe

Recommended Posts

Another example of how young our republic is. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/lyon-g-tyler-jr-grandson-of-president-john-tyler-dies-at-95/2020/10/10/6c5825c8-0a60-11eb-859b-f9c27abe638d_story.html

Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. did not meet his paternal grandfather when he was growing up in Virginia in the 1930s. He never had the chance to walk through fields with his grandfather or hear his stories about an earlier time — tales about growing up when George Washington was president and of going to Monticello, where he listened as a family friend played the fiddle. The friend was Thomas Jefferson.

In later years, Dr. Tyler went on to become a Navy officer, a lawyer and a professor of history — and practically the living embodiment of almost the entire history of the nation.

Until his death on Sept. 26, Dr. Tyler had been one of two living grandsons of John Tyler, who was president of the United States from 1841 to 1845. Dr. Tyler was born 63 years after his grandfather died. He was 95 when he died at a hospital in Franklin, Tenn., of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said his daughter, Susan Selina Tyler.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

Young Republic? I don't know. Can't think of an older one; at least not a big one!

 

How about "Another example of how young our nation is?" 

 

My usual example of how young we are as a people with a national identity is my "Four Handshakes": When I was little I met a Spanish American War veteran.  He likely knew veterans of the War of 1861, They likely knew a Revolutionary War veteran.  So four handshakes, not even four full lifetimes, to span our entire history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Except for the part beginning in 1607!

 

Not to be unduly contradictory at all, but over the years one hears comments about how we are a young country. We are in a certain sense, inasmuch as European nations have [often] been around longer. Sometimes the term is used to suggest lack of depth or 'sophistication'.

 

The US is unusual in that we usually identify  ourselves as a nation with the Revolution, or the Constitution. But nations can and do exist long before any particular regime or even system of government. To me, our specific 'national' history begins with the Jamestown and Plymouth settlements; in turn an extension of English 'history'.

 

We've been a 'nation' in the modern sense, for a lot longer than Germany, for example, but German culture and 'identity' go back many centuries earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could go back, maybe,  to the 1750s.  But even during the Revolution the prevailing attitude, aside from identifying more with the colony than any nation,  our identity was as Englishmen, subjects of the Crown rather than as Americans. 

 

You could even make a case that state identity was more important to the individual than was national identity until after the War of 1861. Many Texicans would still make the case for state over national identity. ;)

 

Re Germany.   One could easily argue that Germany as we know it only dates from late 1945.  Heck, even later if you want to date it from when the Wall came down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was reading an article a couple of weeks ago where some German politicians were criticizing American 'democracy'; i.e. the Electoral College and the Senate, etc.

 

I thought it pretty cheeky, inasmuch as we invented representative government more than 2 centuries ago, and they've had it in 3/5ths of the country for about 70 years and in the other 2/5ths for about 20!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.