As provided by the Constitution, the Vice-President, John Tyler, was immediately sworn into office as his successor. Like many of his predecessors, John Tyler was a native of Virginia, where he was born March 29, 1790. He possessed great natural ability and was a practicing lawyer at the age of nineteen, and a member of the State Legislature at twenty-one. When thirty-five, he was chosen governor of Virginia, and was a United States senator from 1827 to 1836. Since he was the first President not elected to the office, there was considerable discussion among the politicians as to his precise _status_. It was contended by some that he was chief executive "in trust," and was therefore bound to carry out the policy of his immediate predecessor. Tyler insisted that he was as much the President, in every respect, as if he had been elected by the people to that office, and in this insistence he was unquestionably right. Tyler quickly involved himself in trouble with the Whigs. They passed an act to re-establish the United States Bank, whose charter expired in 1836, though it had continued in operation under the authority of the State of Pennsylvania. President Tyler vetoed the bill. He suggested some modifications, and it was passed again, but to the indignant amazement of his party he vetoed it a second time. He was declared a traitor and widely denounced. All his cabinet resigned, with the exception of Daniel Webster, who, as stated elsewhere, remained until 1843, in order to complete an important treaty with England then under negotiation. THE WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY. This was known as the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Our northeastern boundary was loosely defined by the treaty of 1783, and it was finally agreed by Great Britain and the United States to refer the questions in dispute to three commissions to be jointly constituted by the two countries. The first of these awarded the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay to the United States; the third established the boundary line from the intersection of the forty-fifth parallel with the St. Lawrence to the western point of Lake Huron. It remained for the second commission to determine the boundary from the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence. The question was a bone of contention for many years, and at last was referred to Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton. These two gentlemen met in a spirit of fairness, calmly discussed the matter, and without the slightest friction reached an agreement, which was signed August 9, 1842, and confirmed by the Senate. CIVIL WAR IN RHODE ISLAND.