John Tyler as a believer in states rights and constructionism, spent most of his time in Congress opposing bills he believed were unconstitutional.
At the top of his list was central banking.
Alexander Hamilton's first bank of the United States had been dissolved when its charter expired in 1811.
But President James Madison, a vocal critic of the bank, found himself facing an economic crisis in the aftermath of the war of 1812 and realized a second bank would have to be chartered to manage the nation's money, when John Tyler and other southern lawmakers attacked the bank as unconstitutional.
It's important to keep in mind that the reason they were so opposed to it was because central banking tended to favor the commerce class like businesses and manufacturers, most of whom were concentrated in the north.
It didn't benefit the planter class that dominated the southern economy because their wealth was concentrated in assets, primarily land and slaves as opposed to cash.
And John Tyler was absolutely one of the planter class, he maintained a number of farms and plantations throughout his life, all of which were operated using slave labor.
He saw no reason why thing change and why would he.
The present system already rewarded him, as a result, most of his constitutional stands were made just as much out of self-interest as from ideological purity.
However, it was for ideological purity that he became famous as a politician, not only as part of a House of Representatives, but also through two more stints in the Virginia house of delegates, and a two-year term as governor and as a U.S senator from 1827 to 1836.
