First was the Roman Republic, then came the Roman Empire. In the 4th century BCE, the Roman Republic turned to imperialism. After losing a significant battle with the Gauls, a Celtic people, the Romans concluded that in order to sustain safety, they would have to expand their territory so the frontiers would be a good distance from the capital, Rome. They successfully fought a series of wars with other Italian city-states as well as the Carthaginians, achieving their goal. Warfare gave excessive power to the military leaders, weakening the influence of the Senate and thus the democracy became undermined. That is how it was transformed to a vast empire.
Maize was not brought to America
Voices, thunderings
The reference you have in mind is from chapter 8 of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. Here's the section as quoted from the King James Version:
"Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake" (Revelation 8:3-5 KJV).
Answer
Vice President Tyler assumed the presidency after the death of President William Henry Harrison using the implied powers clause of the Constitution, though later the 25th Amendment would state that in the “case of the removal of the president from office or of his death or resignation, the vice president shall become president.”
In the presidential election of 1840, the Whig Party elected Tyler as vice president along with the candidacy of William Henry Harrison. John Tyler took the position of president, after the sudden death of Harrison. This makes him the tenth President of the United States, from 1841 to 1845.
