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  Taylor, Zachary
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationWhig  
<-  1849-11-01  
 
NameZachary Taylor
Address4701 Brownsboro Rd
Windy Hills, Kentucky , United States
EmailNone
Website [Link]
Born November 24, 1784
DiedJuly 09, 1850 (65 years)
ContributorJake
Last ModifedChronicler
Nov 24, 2021 07:12am
Tags English - Army - Episcopalian -
InfoNortherners and Southerners disputed sharply whether the territories wrested from Mexico should be opened to slavery, and some Southerners even threatened secession. Standing firm, Zachary Taylor was prepared to hold the Union together by armed force rather than by compromise.

Born in Virginia in 1784, he was taken as an infant to Kentucky and raised on a plantation. He was a career officer in the Army, but his talk was most often of cotton raising. His home was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he owned a plantation in Mississippi.

But Taylor did not defend slavery or southern sectionalism; 40 years in the Army made him a strong nationalist.

He spent a quarter of a century policing the frontiers against Indians. In the Mexican War he won major victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista.

President Polk, disturbed by General Taylor’s informal habits of command and perhaps his Whiggery as well, kept him in northern Mexico and sent an expedition under Gen. Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. Taylor, incensed, thought that "the battle of Buena Vista opened the road to the city of Mexico and the halls of Montezuma, that others might revel in them."

"Old Rough and Ready's" homespun ways were political assets. His long military record would appeal to northerners; his ownership of 100 slaves would lure southern votes. He had not committed himself on troublesome issues. The Whigs nominated him to run against the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, who favored letting the residents of territories decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery.

In protest against Taylor the slaveholder and Cass the advocate of "squatter sovereignty," northerners who opposed extension of slavery into territories formed a Free Soil Party and nominated Martin Van Buren. In a close election, the Free Soilers pulled enough votes away from Cass to elect Taylor.

Although Taylor had subscribed to Whig principles of legislative leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of Whig leaders in Congress. He acted at times as though he were above parties and politics. As disheveled as always, Taylor tried to run his administration in the same rule-of-thumb fashion with which he had fought Indians.

Traditionally, people could decide whether they wanted slavery when they drew up new state constitutions. Therefore, to end the dispute over slavery in new areas, Taylor urged settlers in New Mexico and California to draft constitutions and apply for statehood, bypassing the territorial stage.

Southerners were furious, since neither state constitution was likely to permit slavery; Members of Congress were dismayed, since they felt the President was usurping their policy-making prerogatives. In addition, Taylor’s solution ignored several acute side issues: the northern dislike of the slave market operating in the District of Columbia; and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law.

In February 1850 President Taylor had held a stormy conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang … with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered.

Then events took an unexpected turn. After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, Taylor fell ill; within five days he was dead. After his death, the forces of compromise triumphed, but the war Taylor had been willing to face came 11 years later. In it, his only son Richard served as a general in the Confederate Army.

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JOB APPROVAL POLLS
DateFirmApproveDisapproveDon't Know
06/13/2007-06/24/2007 Rasmussen Reports 26.00% ( 0.0) 18.00% ( 0.0) 55.00% ( 0.0)

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor
Jun 27, 1991 12:00pm Announcement Verdict In: 12th President Was Not Assassinated  Article Green Pigs 

DISCUSSION
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Importance? 10.00000 Average

FAMILY
Wife Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor Jun 21, 1810-Jul 09, 1850
Daughter Anne Margaret Mackall Taylor Wood 1811-1875
Daughter Sarah Knox Taylor Davis 1814-1835
Daughter Octavia Pannel Taylor 1816-1820
Daughter Margaret Smith Taylor 1819-1820
Daughter Mary Elizabeth Taylor Bliss Dandridge 1824-1909
Son Richard Taylor 1826-1879

INFORMATION LINKS
Congressional Gold Medal Recipient Zachary Taylor (1847)  Discuss
Congressional Gold Medal Recipient Zachary Taylor (1848)  Discuss
President Zachary Taylor Inaugural Address March 5, 1849  Discuss
Zachary Taylor - State of the Union Address (1849)  Discuss
RACES
  12/06/1848 US President Won 56.21% (+12.41%)
  11/07/1848 SC US President Lost 17.31% (-65.38%)
  11/07/1848 US President National Vote Won 47.28% (+4.79%)
  06/09/1848 US President - W Convention Won 47.63% (+20.61%)
  09/11/1847 US President - Native American Convention Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
ENDORSEMENTS