[1] Following graduation from the University of Virginia, Tyler spent a year teaching philosophy and literature at the College of William & Mary, near his family's Sherwood Forest plantation.

In 1887 Richmond voters elected Tyler as one of their four representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served alongside A.S. Buford, Henry L. Carter and John A.

When Virginia's governor signed the appropriation into law, the college reopened in 1888, and its trustees named Tyler its president.

Tyler also advocated women's suffrage and supported Minnie Braithwaite Jenkins, the first woman to attempt to take classes at W&M in 1896, although her petition was denied.

A prolific author, his work spurred recognition of the significance of both Jamestown and Williamsburg to American history.

[8] Tyler received notoriety late in life for criticizing President Abraham Lincoln on numerous occasions.

The first came in 1917 in response to an editorial in The New York Times, The Hohenzollerns and the Slave Power, which analogized Southern slaveholders to the German aristocrats then engaging Europe in what became known as World War I. Tyler wrote that Lincoln more closely resembled the Prussian nobility because he was opposed to the rights of self-determination of the Confederate states, in the same way that Germany was opposed to the rights of various smaller nations of Europe.

[10] He retired to his farm, Lion's Den, in Charles City County but remained active as a writer, speaker, and researcher.

[11] In retirement, he continued the crusade against Lincoln, publishing many articles in his own journal, Tyler's Quarterly and Genealogical Magazine, that were highly critical of the sixteenth president.

[12] In one of his last publications, a short pamphlet titled A Confederate Catechism, Tyler wrote: "Both from the standpoint of the Constitution and sound statesmanship, it was not slavery, but the vindictive, intemperate anti-slavery movement that was at the bottom of all the troubles.

Located next to James Blair Hall, which houses the university's history department, the garden contains busts of the three men, and was dedicated on April 30, 2004.

It was funded as part of a $5 million gift from Lyon's son, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, and his wife.

[23] Tyler's name was removed from several William & Mary institutions in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests and the broader movement to reexamine historical commemoration, due to his role upholding academic discourses that justified racial segregation.