76 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS nue, which was thus sure soon to accumulate, should be distributed among the states. But the compro mise act of 1833, in which Mr. Tyler had played an important part, had provided that the protective policy should come to an end in 1842. Both on this ground, and because of the provision for dis tributing the surplus, the president vetoed the new bill. Congress then devised and passed another bill, providing for a tariff for revenue, with inci dental protection, but still contemplating a dis tribution of the surplus, if there should be any. The president vetoed this bill. Congress received the veto message with great indignation, and on the motion of ex-President John Q. Adams it was re ferred to a committee, which condemned it as an unwarrantable assumption of power and, after a caustic summary of Mr. Tyler s acts since his accession to office, concluded with a reference to impeachment. This report called forth from the president a formal protest; but the victory was already his. The Whigs were afraid to go before the country in the autumn elections with the tariff question unsettled, and the bill was accordingly passed by both houses, without the distributing clause, and was at once signed by the president. The distributing clause was then passed in a separate bill, but a "pocket veto" disposed of it. Congress adjourned on August 31, 1842, and in the elections the Whig majority of twenty-five in
