page_title: List of presidents of the United States who died in office
section_title: 1850: Zachary Taylor
hierarchical_section_title: List of presidents of the United States who died in office / 1850: Zachary Taylor
caption_attribution_description: Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare &amp; Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University Title: Death of Genl. Z. Taylor, 12th President of the United States Political Party: Whig Date Made: 1850 Measurement: Print: 10 x 14 in.; 25.4 x 35.56 cm Classification: Prints Persistent URI: hdl.handle.net/1813.001/5z4d There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
context_page_description: Since the office was established in 1789, 44 people have served as President of the United States. Of these, eight presidents have died in office: four were assassinated, and four died of natural causes. In each of these instances, the vice president has succeeded to the presidency. This practice is presently governed by Section One of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1967, which declares that, "the Vice President shall become President" if the president is removed from office, dies, or resigns. The initial authorization for this practice was provided by Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, as originally adopted, which stated:
  In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, ...
  The first incumbent U.S. president to die was William Henry Harrison, on April 4, 1841, only one month after Inauguration Day. He died from complications of what at the time was believed to be pneumonia.
context_section_description: On July 4, 1850, Taylor was known to have consumed copious amounts of ice water, cold milk, green apples, and cherries after attending holiday celebrations and the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. That same evening, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment. Doctors used popular treatments of the time. On the morning of July 9, the president asked his wife Margaret not to grieve saying:
  I have always done my duty, I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me.
  Taylor died late that evening at around 10:35 pm, five days after becoming ill. Contemporary reports listed the cause of death as "bilious diarrhea or a bilious cholera". He was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
  Taylor's funeral took place on July 13, and like Harrison's nine years earlier, was held in the East Room of the White House. Afterward, an estimated 100,000 people gathered along the funeral route to Congressional Cemetery where his coffin was placed temporarily in the Public Vault; that October it was transported to Louisville, Kentucky. On November 1, 1850, Taylor was buried in his family's burial ground on the Taylor estate, Springfield – now the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
  Almost immediately after his death, rumors began to circulate that Taylor had been poisoned by pro-slavery Southerners, and various conspiracy theories persisted into the late-20th century. The cause of Taylor's death was definitively established in 1991, when his remains were exhumed and an autopsy conducted by Kentucky's chief medical examiner. Subsequent Neutron activation analysis conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed no evidence of poisoning, as arsenic levels were too low. The analysis concluded Taylor had contracted cholera morbus, or acute gastroenteritis, as Washington had open sewers, and his food or drink may have been contaminated.
caption: An 1850 print depicting the death of Zachary Taylor
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