Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor 	Zachary Taylor
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Zachary_Taylor_restored_and_cropped_%28cropped%29%282%29.jpg/220px-Zachary_Taylor_restored_and_cropped_%28cropped%29%282%29.jpg
Taylor c. 1843–1845	https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Zachary_Taylor_restored_and_cropped_%28cropped%29%282%29.jpg/220px-Zachary_Taylor_restored_and_cropped_%28cropped%29%282%29.jpg
Taylor c. 1843–1845
 	
12th President of the United States 	12th President of the United States
In officeMarch 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850	In officeMarch 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850
Vice President 	Millard Fillmore
Preceded by 	James K. Polk
Succeeded by 	Millard Fillmore
Personal details 	Personal details
Born 	November 24, 1784
Barboursville, Virginia, U.S.
Died 	July 9, 1850 (aged 65)
Washington County, D.C., U.S.
Resting place 	Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
Political party 	Whig
Spouse 	Margaret Smith
(m. 1810)
Children 	6, including Sarah, Mary, and Richard
Parent 	
* Richard Taylor (father)
Profession 	Military officer
Awards 	
* Congressional Gold Medal (3)
* Thanks of Congress
Signature 	https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Zachary_Taylor_Signature-2.svg/128px-Zachary_Taylor_Signature-2.svg.png
Military service 	Military service
Branch/service 	United States Army
Years of service 	1808–1849
Rank 	https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Union_Army_major_general_rank_insignia.svg/23px-Union_Army_major_general_rank_insignia.svg.png Major general
Commands 	Army of Occupation
Battles/wars 	
* War of 1812
** Siege of Fort Harrison
** Battle of Credit Island
* Black Hawk War
* Second Seminole War
** Battle of Lake Okeechobee
* Mexican–American War
** Battle of Palo Alto
** Battle of Resaca de la Palma
** Battle of Monterrey
** Battle of Buena Vista
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United Statesfrom 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general and becoming a national hero for his victories in the Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White Housedespite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was to preserve the Union. He died 16 months into his term from a stomach disease. Taylor had the third-shortest presidential term in U.S. history.
Taylor was born into a prominent family of plantation owners who moved westward from Virginia to Louisville, Kentucky, in his youth; he was the last president born before the adoption of the Constitution. He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army in 1808 and made a name for himself as a captain in the War of 1812. He climbed the ranks of the military, establishing military forts along the Mississippi River and entering the Black Hawk War as a colonel in 1832. His success in the Second Seminole War attracted national attention and earned him the nickname "Old Rough and Ready".
In 1845, during the annexation of Texas, President James K. Polkdispatched Taylor to the Rio Grandein anticipation of a battle with Mexicoover the disputed Texas–Mexico border. The Mexican–American War broke out in April 1846, and Taylor defeated Mexican troops commanded by General Mariano Arista at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, driving Arista's troops out of Texas. Taylor then led his troops into Mexico, where they defeated Mexican troops commanded by Pedro de Ampudia at the Battle of Monterrey. Defying orders, Taylor led his troops further south and, despite being severely outnumbered, dealt a crushing blow to Mexican forces under General Antonio López de Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista. Taylor's troops were transferred to the command of Major General Winfield Scott, but Taylor retained his popularity.
The Whig Party convinced a reluctant Taylor to lead its ticket in the 1848 presidential election, despite his unclear political tenets and lack of interest in politics. At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Winfield Scott and former senator Henry Clay for the party's nomination. He won the general election alongside New York politician Millard Fillmore, defeating Democratic Party nominees Lewis Cass and William Orlando Butler, as well as a third-party effort led by former president Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams Sr. of the Free Soil Party. Taylor became the first president to be elected without having previously held political office. As president, he kept his distance from Congress and his Cabinet, even though partisan tensions threatened to divide the Union. Debate over the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession dominated the national political agenda and led to threats of secession from Southerners. Despite being a Southerner and a slaveholder himself, Taylor did not push for the expansion of slavery, and sought sectional harmony above all other concerns. To avoid the issue of slavery, he urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, setting the stage for the Compromise of 1850.
Taylor died suddenly of a stomach disease on July 9, 1850, with his administration having accomplished little aside from the ratification of the Clayton–Bulwer Treatyand having made no progress on the most divisive issue in Congress and the nation: slavery. Vice President Fillmore assumed the presidency and served the remainder of his term. Historians and scholars have ranked Taylor in the bottom quartile of U.S. presidents, owing in part to his short term of office (16 months), though he has been described as "more a forgettable president than a failed one".
== Early life ==
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zachary_Taylor_House_1.JPG|right|thumb|Taylor's childhood home in Louisville, Kentucky
Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784, on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry. His birthplace may have been Hare Forest Farm, the home of his maternal grandfather William Strother, but this is uncertain. Another possibility, one recognized by a historical marker, is Montebello, another Orange County estate. He was the third of five surviving sons in his family (a sixth died in infancy) and had three younger sisters. His mother was Sarah Dabney (Strother) Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution.
Taylor was a descendant of Elder William Brewster, a Pilgrim leader of the Plymouth Colony, a Mayflower immigrant, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact; and Isaac Allerton Jr., a colonial merchant, colonel, and son of Mayflower Pilgrim Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster. Taylor's second cousin through that line was James Madison, the fourth president. He was also a member of the famous Lee family of Virginia, and a third cousin once removed of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
His family forsook its exhausted Virginia land, joined the westward migration and settled near future Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. Taylor grew up in a small woodland cabin until, with increased prosperity, his family moved to a brick house. As a child, he lived in a battleground of the American Indian Wars, later claiming that he had seen Native Americans abduct and scalp his classmates while they were walking down the road together. Louisville's rapid growth was a boon for Taylor's father, who by the start of the 19th century had acquired 10,000 acres (40 km2) throughout Kentucky, as well as 26 slaves to cultivate the most developed portion of his holdings. Taylor's formal education was sporadic because Kentucky's education system was just taking shape during his formative years.
Taylor's mother taught him to read and write, and he later attended a school operated by Elisha Ayer, a teacher originally from Connecticut. He also attended a Middletown, Kentucky, academy run by Kean O'Hara, a classically trained scholar from Ireland and the father of Theodore O'Hara. Ayer recalled Taylor as a patient and quick learner, but his early letters showed a weak grasp of spelling and grammar, as well as poor handwriting. All improved over time, but his handwriting remained difficult to read.
== Marriage and family ==
In June 1810, Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith, whom he had met the previous autumn in Louisville. "Peggy" Smith came from a prominent family of Maryland planters—her father was Major Walter Smith, who had served in the Revolutionary War. The couple had six children:
* Ann Mackall Taylor (1811–1875), married Robert C. Wood, a U.S. Army surgeon at Fort Snelling, in 1829. Their son John Taylor Wood served in the U.S. Navy and the Confederate Navy. Wood was the father of:
** Zachary Taylor Wood, acting Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police and Commissioner of Yukon Territory.
** Charles Carroll Wood, Lieutenant with the British Army.
* Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor (1814–1835), married Jefferson Davis in 1835, a subordinate officer she had met through her father at the end of the Black Hawk War; she died at 21 of malaria in St. Francisville, Louisiana, three months after her marriage.
* Octavia Pannell Taylor (1816–1820), died in early childhood.
* Margaret Smith Taylor (1819–1820), died in infancy along with Octavia when the Taylor family was stricken with a "bilious fever."
* Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Taylor (1824–1909), married William Wallace Smith Bliss in 1848 (he died in 1853); married Philip Pendleton Dandridge in 1858.
* Richard Taylor (1826–1879), a Confederate Army general; married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier in 1851.
== Military career ==
=== Initial commissions ===
On May 3, 1808, Taylor joined the U.S. Army, receiving a commission from President Thomas Jefferson as a first lieutenant of the Kentuckian Seventh Infantry Regiment. He was among the new officers Congress commissioned in response to the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, in which the crew of a British Royal Navy warship had boarded a United States Navy frigate, sparking calls for war. Taylor spent much of 1809 in the dilapidated camps of New Orleans and nearby Terre aux Boeufs, in the Territory of Orleans. Under James Wilkinson's command, the soldiers at Terre aux Boeufs suffered greatly from disease and lack of supplies, and Taylor was given an extended leave, returning to Louisville to recover.
Taylor was promoted to captain in November 1810. His army duties were limited at this time, and he attended to his personal finances. Over the next several years, he began to purchase a good deal of bank stock in Louisville. He also bought a plantation in Louisville, as well as the Cypress Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi Territory. These acquisitions included slaves, rising in number to more than 200.
In July 1811 he was called to the Indiana Territory, where he assumed control of Fort Knox after the commandant fled. In a few weeks, he was able to restore order in the garrison, for which he was lauded by Governor William Henry Harrison.Taylor was temporarily called to Washington, D.C., to testify for Wilkinson as a witness in a court-martial, and so did not take part in the November 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe against the forces of Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief.
=== War of 1812 ===
During the War of 1812, in which U.S. forces battled the British Empire and its Indian allies, Taylor defended Fort Harrison in Indiana Territory from an Indian attack commanded by Tecumseh. The September 1812 battle was the American forces' first land victory of the war, for which Taylor received wide praise, as well as a brevet (temporary) promotion to the rank of major. According to historian John Eisenhower, this was the first brevet awarded in U.S. history. Later that year, Taylor joined General Samuel Hopkins as an aide on two expeditions—one into the Illinois Territory and one to the Tippecanoe battle site, where they were forced to retreat in the Battle of Wild Cat Creek. Taylor moved his family to Fort Knox after the violence subsided.
In the spring of 1814, Taylor was called back into action under Brigadier General Benjamin Howard, and after Howard fell sick, Taylor led a 430-man expedition from St. Louis, up the Mississippi River. In the Battle of Credit Island, Taylor defeated Indian forces, but retreated after the Indians were joined by their British allies.That October he supervised the construction of Fort Johnson near present-day Warsaw, Illinois, the last toehold of the U.S. Army in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Upon Howard's death a few weeks later, Taylor was ordered to abandon the fort and retreat to St. Louis. Reduced to the rank of captain when the war ended in 1815, he resigned from the army. He reentered it a year later after gaining a commission as a major.
=== Command of Fort Howard ===
Taylor commanded Fort Howard at the Green Bay, Michigan Territory settlement for two years, then returned to Louisville and his family. In April 1819 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and dined with President James Monroe and General Andrew Jackson. In late 1820, Taylor took the 7th Infantry to Natchitoches, Louisiana, on the Red River. He subsequently established Fort Selden at the confluence of the Sulphur River and the Red River. On the orders of General Edmund P. Gaines, he later found a new post more convenient to the Sabine River frontier. By March 1822, Taylor had established Fort Jesup at the Shield's Spring site southwest of Natchitoches.
That November (1822), Taylor was transferred to Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where he remained until February 1824. He spent the next few years on recruiting duty. In late 1826, he was called to Washington, D.C., for work on an Army committee to consolidate and improve military organization. In the meantime he acquired his first Louisiana plantation and decided to move with his family to a new home in Baton Rouge.
=== Black Hawk War ===
In May 1828, Taylor was called back to action, commanding Fort Snelling in Michigan Territory (now Minnesota) on the Upper Mississippi River for a year, and then nearby Fort Crawford for a year. After some time on furlough, spent expanding his landholdings, Taylor was promoted to colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment in April 1832, when the Black Hawk War was beginning in the West. Taylor campaigned under General Henry Atkinson to pursue and later defend against Chief Black Hawk's forces throughout the summer. The end of the war in August 1832 signaled the final Indian resistance to U.S. expansion in the area.
During this period, Taylor opposed the courtship of his 17-year-old daughter Sarah Knox Taylor with Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, the future President of the Confederate States of America. He respected Davis but did not wish his daughter to become a military wife, as he knew it was a hard life for families. Davis and Sarah Taylor married in June 1835 (when she was 21), but she died three months later of malaria contracted on a visit to Davis's sister's home in St. Francisville, Louisiana.
=== Second Seminole War ===
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_war_1837_-_en.svg|thumb|Florida war 1837
By 1837, the Second Seminole War was underway when Taylor was directed to Florida. He built Fort Gardiner and Fort Basinger as supply depots and communication centers in support of Major General Thomas S. Jesup's campaign to penetrate deep into Seminole territory with large forces and trap the Seminoles and their allies in order to force them to fight or surrender. He engaged in battle with the Seminole Indians in the Christmas Day Battle of Lake Okeechobee, among the largest U.S.–Indian battles of the 19th century; as a result, he was promoted to brigadier general. In May 1838, Jesup stepped down and placed Taylor in command of all American troops in Florida, a position he held for two years—his reputation as a military leader was growing and he became known as "Old Rough and Ready." Taylor was criticized for using bloodhounds in order to track Seminole.
After his long-requested relief was granted, Taylor spent a comfortable year touring the nation with his family and meeting with military leaders. During this period, he began to be interested in politics and corresponded with President William Henry Harrison. He was made commander of the Second Department of the Army's Western Division in May 1841. The sizable territory ran from the Mississippi River westward, south of the 37th parallel north. Stationed in Arkansas, Taylor enjoyed several uneventful years, spending as much time attending to his land speculation as to military matters.
=== Mexican–American War ===
Main article: Mexican–American War
In anticipation of the annexation of the Republic of Texas, which had established independence in 1836, Taylor was sent in April 1844 to Fort Jesup in Louisiana, and ordered to guard against attempts by Mexico to reclaim the territory.More senior generals in the army might have taken this important command, such as Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines. But both were known members of the Whig Party, and Taylor's apolitical reputation and friendly relations with Andrew Jackson made him the choice of President James K. Polk. Polk directed him to deploy into disputed territory in Texas, "on or near the Rio Grande" near Mexico. Taylor chose a spot at Corpus Christi, and his Army of Occupation encamped there until the following spring in anticipation of a Mexican attack.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:General_Zachary_Taylor_rides_his_horse_at_Palo_Alto_Battle_-_May_8,_1846.JPG|thumb|General Zachary Taylor rides his horse at the Battle of Palo Alto, May 8, 1846
When Polk's attempts to negotiate with Mexico failed, Taylor's men advanced to the Rio Grande in March 1846, and war appeared imminent. Violence broke out several weeks later, when Mexican forces attacked some of Captain Seth B. Thornton's men north of the river. Learning of the Thornton Affair, Polk told Congress in May that a war between Mexico and the U.S. had begun.
That same month, Taylor commanded American forces at the Battle of Palo Alto and the nearby Battle of Resaca de la Palma. Though greatly outnumbered, he defeated the Mexican "Army of the North" commanded by General Mariano Arista, and forced the troops back across the Rio Grande. Taylor was later praised for his humane treatment of the wounded Mexican soldiers before the prisoner exchange with Arista, giving them the same care as was given to American wounded. After tending to the wounded, he performed the last rites for the dead of both the American and Mexican soldiers killed during the battle.
These victories made him a popular hero, and in May 1846 Taylor received a brevet promotion to major general and a formal commendation from Congress. In June, he was promoted to the full rank of major general. The national press compared him to George Washington and Andrew Jackson, both generals who had ascended to the presidency, but Taylor denied any interest in running for office. "Such an idea never entered my head," he remarked in a letter, "nor is it likely to enter the head of any sane person."
After crossing the Rio Grande, in September Taylor inflicted heavy casualties upon the Mexicans at the Battle of Monterrey, and captured that city in three days, despite its impregnable repute. Taylor was criticized for signing a "liberal" truce rather than pressing for a large-scale surrender. Polk had hoped that the occupation of Northern Mexico would induce the Mexicans to sell Alta Californiaand New Mexico, but the Mexicans remained unwilling to part with so much territory. Polk sent an army under the command of Winfield Scott to besiege Veracruz, an important Mexican port city, while Taylor was ordered to remain near Monterrey. Many of Taylor's experienced soldiers were placed under Scott's command, leaving Taylor with a smaller and less effective force. Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna intercepted a letter from Scott about Taylor's smaller force, and he moved north, intent on destroying Taylor's force before confronting Scott's army.
Learning of Santa Anna's approach, and refusing to retreat despite the Mexican army's greater numbers, Taylor established a strong defensive position near the town of Saltillo. Santa Anna attacked Taylor with 20,000 men at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, leaving around 700 Americans dead or wounded at a cost of over 1,500 Mexican casualties. Outmatched, the Mexican forces retreated, ensuring a "far-reaching" victory for the Americans.
In recognition of his victory at Buena Vista, on July 4, 1847, Taylor was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, the Virginia branch of which included his father as a charter member. Taylor also was made a member of the Aztec Club of 1847, Military Society of the Mexican War. He received three Congressional Gold Medals for his service in the Mexican-American War and remains the only person to have received the medal three times.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ZacharyTaylorMonmouthBalize.jpg|thumb|U.S. Steam Ship Monmouthreturns U.S. General Zachary Taylor from victories in the war with Mexico at Balize, Louisiana, November 1847
Taylor remained at Monterrey until late November 1847, when he set sail for home. While he spent the following year in command of the Army's entire western division, his active military career was effectively over. In December he received a hero's welcome in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, setting the stage for the 1848 presidential election.
Ulysses S. Grant served under Taylor in this war and said of his style of leadership: "A better army, man for man, probably never faced an enemy than the one commanded by General Taylor in the earliest two engagements of the Mexican War."General Taylor was not an officer to trouble the administration much with his demands but was inclined to do the best he could with the means given to him. He felt his responsibility as going no further. If he had thought that he was sent to perform an impossibility with the means given him, he would probably have informed the authorities of his opinion and left them to determine what should be done. If the judgment was against him he would have gone on and done the best he could with the means at hand without parading his grievance before the public. No soldier could face either danger or responsibility more calmly than he. These are qualities more rarely found than genius or physical courage. General Taylor never made any great show or parade, either of uniform or retinue. In dress he was possibly too plain, rarely wearing anything in the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer; but he was known to every soldier in his army, and was respected by all.
== Dates of rank ==
Insignia 	Rank 	Component 	Date
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Union_army_1st_lt_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_1st_lt_rank_insignia.jpg 	1st Lieutenant 	Regular Army	May 3, 1808
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Union_army_cpt_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_cpt_rank_insignia.jpg 	Captain 	Regular Army	November 30, 1810
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Union_army_maj_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_maj_rank_insignia.jpg 	Brevet Major 	Regular Army	September 5, 1812
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Union_army_maj_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_maj_rank_insignia.jpg 	Major 	Regular Army	May 15, 1814
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Union_Army_LTC_rank_insignia.png/75px-Union_Army_LTC_rank_insignia.png 	Lieutenant Colonel 	Regular Army	April 20, 1819
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Union_Army_colonel_rank_insignia.png/75px-Union_Army_colonel_rank_insignia.png 	Colonel 	Regular Army	April 4, 1832
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Union_army_brig_gen_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_brig_gen_rank_insignia.jpg	Brevet Brigadier-General	Regular Army	December 25, 1837
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Union_army_maj_gen_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_maj_gen_rank_insignia.jpg 	Brevet Major General 	Regular Army	May 28, 1846
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Union_army_maj_gen_rank_insignia.jpg/75px-Union_army_maj_gen_rank_insignia.jpg 	Major General 	Regular Army	June 29, 1846
Note - Major General Taylor resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on January 31, 1849, shortly before he became president. 
== Election of 1848 ==
Main article: 1848 United States presidential election
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TaylorFillmore.jpg|right|thumb|Taylor/Fillmore 1848 campaign poster
In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never publicly revealed his political beliefs before 1848 nor voted before that time. He was apolitical and had a negative opinion of most politicians. He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that President Andrew Jackson should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in 1836. He believed it was impractical to expand slavery into the Western United States, as neither cotton nor sugar (both produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a plantation economy. He was also a firm American nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, believed that secession was a bad way to resolve national problems.
Well before the American victory at Buena Vista, political clubs formed that supported Taylor for president. His support was drawn from an unusually broad assortment of political bands, including Whigs and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, allies and opponents of national leaders such as Polk and Henry Clay. By late 1846, Taylor's opposition to a presidential run had weakened, and it became clear that his principles resembled Whig orthodoxy. Taylor despised both Polk and his policies, while the Whigs were considering nominating another war hero for the presidency after the success of its previous winning nominee, William Henry Harrison, in 1840.
As support for Taylor's candidacy grew, he continued to keep his distance from both parties, but made clear that he would have voted for Whig Henry Clay in 1844 had he voted. In a widely publicized September 1847 letter, Taylor stated his positions on several issues. He did not favor chartering another national bank, favored a low tariff, and believed that the president should play no role in making laws. Taylor did believe that the president could veto laws, but only when they were clearly unconstitutional.
Many southerners believed that Taylor supported slavery and its expansion into the new territory absorbed from Mexico, and some were angered when Taylor suggested that if elected president he would not veto the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed against such an expansion. This position did not enhance his support from activist antislavery elements in the Northern United States, as they wanted Taylor to speak out strongly in support of the Proviso, not simply fail to veto it.Most abolitionists did not support Taylor, since he was a slave-owner.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege1848.svg|right|thumb|1848 electoral vote results
In February 1848, Taylor again announced that he would not accept either party's presidential nomination. His reluctance to identify himself as a Whig nearly cost him the party's presidential nomination, but Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky and other supporters finally convinced Taylor to declare himself a Whig. Though Clay retained a strong following among the Whigs, Whig leaders like William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln were eager to support a war hero who could replicate the success of the party's only other successful presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison.
At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Clay and Winfield Scott for the presidential nomination. For its vice-presidential nominee the convention chose Millard Fillmore, a prominent New York Whig who had chaired the House Ways and Means Committee and been a contender for the vice-presidential nominee in the 1844 election. Fillmore's selection was largely an attempt at reconciliation with northern Whigs, who were furious at the nomination of a slave-owning southerner; no faction of the party was satisfied with the final ticket. It was initially unclear whether Taylor would accept the nomination because he did not respond to the letters notifying him of the convention's outcome, because he had instructed his local post office not to deliver his mail to avoid postage fees. Taylor continued to minimize his role in the campaign, preferring not to directly meet with voters or correspond about his political views. He did little active campaigning, and may not have voted. His campaign was skillfully directed by Crittenden and bolstered by a late endorsement from Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
Democrats were even less unified than the Whigs, as former Democratic President Martin Van Buren broke from the party and led the anti-slavery Free Soil Party's ticket. Van Buren won the support of many Democrats and Whigs who opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, but he took more votes from Democratic nominee Lewis Cass in the crucial state of New York.
Nationally, Taylor defeated Cass and Van Buren, taking 163 of the 290 electoral votes. In the popular vote, he took 47.3%, to Cass's 42.5% and Van Buren's 10.1%. Taylor was the last Whig to be elected president and the last person elected to the presidency from neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party, as well as the last Southerner to win a presidential election until Woodrow Wilson's election in 1912.
Taylor ignored the Whig platform, as historian Michael F. Holt explains:Taylor was equally indifferent to programs Whigs had long considered vital. Publicly, he was artfully ambiguous, refusing to answer questions about his views on banking, the tariff, and internal improvements. Privately, he was more forthright. The idea of a national bank "is dead, and will not be revived in my time." In the future the tariff "will be increased only for revenue"; in other words, Whig hopes of restoring the protective tariff of 1842 were vain. There would never again be surplus federal funds from public land sales to distribute to the states, and internal improvements "will go on in spite of presidential vetoes." In a few words, that is, Taylor pronounced an epitaph for the entire Whig economic program.
== personality ==
The character traits of President Zachary Taylor can be described as unassuming, thoughtful, cautious, frank, direct and outspoken. It has been speculated that the Myers-Briggs personality type for Zachary Taylor is an ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). A naturally quiet, insightful character focused on efficient operation and structure. Zachary Taylor Personality type: Observant, abrupt and authoritarian in nature.
a genial, friendly, courteous man.
Although educated, Zachary was a poor student. His handwriting, spelling, and grammar were crude and unrefined throughout his life. Even as a boy, he wanted a career in the military; for a planter's son, it was a respectable alternative to law and the ministry. He was said to be a bit shy before new acquaintances but warmed readily.
== Abilities and Attributes ==
Zachary Taylor was known and fondly remembered for his military skills, as well as leadership ability something that lead president Ulysses grant would model his skill after. Becoming even more famous in the Mexican American war, where he defeated his enemies multiple times despite vastly being outnumbered, though the Mexico army was somewhat flawed.
Battle of Lake Okeechobee 
Taylor's command
Major General Thomas Jesup was placed in command of the war in Florida in 1836. In 1837 Jesup planned a major campaign to finally remove the Seminoles from Florida. In November, four columns started sweeping down the peninsula. One column moved down the east coast from the Mosquito Inlet along the Indian River. A second column moved south along the St. Johns River. A third column crossed from Tampa to the Kissimmee River and then proceeded down the river to Lake Okeechobee. The fourth column moved up the Caloosahatchee River. Colonel Taylor was in charge of the third column. Jesup ordered him to set up a depot somewhere near the Peace River. Taylor built Fort Gardner (near Lake Tohopekaliga) on the Kissimmee River. On December 19, Taylor left Fort Gardinerwith more than 1,000 men, marching down the Kissimmee towards Lake Okeechobee. As a number of Seminoles surrendered to Taylor's column, he stopped to build Fort Basinger, and left prisoners, guards and sick men there.
Taylor's army came up to a large hammock with half a mile of swamp in front of it. On the far side of the hammock was Lake Okeechobee. Here the saw grass stood five feet high. The mud and water were three feet deep. Horses would be of no use. It was plain that the Seminole meant this to be the battleground. They had cut the grass to provide an open field of fire and had notched the trees to steady their rifles. Their scouts were perched in the treetops to follow every movement of the troops coming up. 
Mexican–American War
Battle of Palo Alto. Facing north and moving left to right, General Arista's army consisted of General Antonio Canales Rosillo's 400 irregular cavalry in chaparral, Anastasio Torrejon's cavalry brigade consisting of the 8th, 7th and Light Cavalry, astride the Point Isabel road, then came General Jose Maria Garcia's brigade of the 4th and 10th Infantry with two 8-pounders, then General Rómulo Díaz de la Vega's brigade of the 10th and 6th Infantry with five 4-pounders, then the Tampico Corps, the 2d Light Infantry and a sapper battalion with a 4-pounder. Behind this line was Col. Cayetano Montero's light cavalry.
Facing south and moving right to left, Taylor, with a force of 2,300 men and 400 wagons, placed Col. David E. Twiggs with Lt. Col. James S. McIntosh's 5th Infantry and Maj. Samuel Ringgold's artillery battery, followed by Capt. Lewis N. Morris' 3d Infantry with Lt. William H. Churchill's two 18-pounders astride the road, followed by Capt. George W. Allen's 4th Infantry, Lt. Thomas Childs' artillery battalion, Lt. Col. William G. Belknap's wing, James Duncan's battery, then Capt. William R. Montgomery's 8th Infantry on the American left. Lt. Col. Charles A. May's dragoon squadron guarded the left flank and Capt. Croghan Ker guarded the train. Montgomery was slightly wounded during the battle, along with approximately ten other officers, some of them severely.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mexican_Fourth_line_regiment,_under_artillery_attack.jpg|thumb|Mexican infantry under US artillery fire
Taylor halted his columns and formed a line behind his batteries when the Mexican artillery started firing at 2 pm central daylight time. The American artillery was very effective while the Mexican artillery often fell short. Arista ordered Torrejon's cavalry to attack the American right, but progress was slow, allowing Twiggs to form the 5th Infantry into a square to meet them with a couple of volleys.
A fire started from a cannon burning wad which halted fighting for an hour as the smoke paralleled between the lines of the opposing forces. Arista pulled back 1,000 yards on his left and Taylor advanced accordingly, rotating the axis of the battle 40 degrees counterclockwise. May failed to turn the Mexican left before the artillery duel resumed. Child's artillery battalion formed a square to repel another Torrejon cavalry charge. Duncan's battery stopped Arista from turning the American left and then advanced with the 8th Infantry and Ker's dragoons to drive the Mexican right from the field. A charge ordered by Arista at this time resulted in the light cavalry fleeing along the Mexican line, taking the 6th Infantry with them. Fighting stopped with dusk and both armies camped for the night.
Battle of Resaca de la Palma. American forces began to encounter the Mexican lines at around three in the afternoon. The advance party of skirmishers under Captain Mackall had been pursuing Arista's army throughout the morning and early afternoon, and as they reached the brush around the resaca the group came under heavy rifle and artillery fire.  Mackall attempted to press further in order to gain a clearer view of the Mexican position, but, lacking the firepower of Taylor's main body, was ultimately forced to retreat and await reinforcements.
By four, General Taylor had linked with Captain Mackall and had begun to deploy his army to assault Arista's position. First, he moved to destroy the Mexican skirmish line which was harassing his movements. Two infantry regiments, supported by Ridgely's artillery battery, were able to converge on Arista's skirmishers and force them back into the Mexican main line with heavy casualties. With his immediate front clear, Taylor began to press his attacks on Arista's flanks.
Fighting was disorganized and uncoordinated due to the dense chaparral and the intense Mexican artillery fire, although Ridgely did repulse a Mexican cavalry charge. As regiments entered the heavy underbrush unit cohesion broke down, as smaller and smaller groups became visibly separated from each other; many of these groups were led by non-commissioned officers as the regular officers became cut off from the rest of their men. However, this same issue plagued the Mexican defenders, as the chaparral hampered the lines of communication as well as lines of sight. As a result, the majority of the fighting occurred simultaneously but also independently within these small, separate groups, as each lacked information on the battle as a whole. This breakup of unit integrity effectively negated many of the defensive and numerical advantages the Mexican Army would have ordinarily enjoyed.
Due to the low visibility of the chaparral, Ridgely's artillery battery was unable to provide much support to the American assaults on the flanks. Rather, they concentrated on neutralizing Arista's artillery; the resulting artillery duel proved inconclusive. Taylor ordered a charge by Captain Charles A. May's dragoonsquadron with the objective of clearing the Mexican battery. Supposedly, May said, "Hello Ridgely, where is that Battery? I am ordered to charge it", and Ridgely replied "Hold on Charley, 'till I draw their fire and you will see where they are."May's charge however carried them well past the Mexican artillery and although he managed to capture General Romulo Diaz de la Vega, he could not hold the guns. Taylor then ordered William G. Belknap's 5th and 8th Infantry to secure the guns, which they did. The Mexicans forces east of the road then retreated from their positions.
Up until this point of the engagement, General Arista had not taken the field to command, but rather had been in his tent performing his administrative duties.Though he had received word of the American assault, he believed it to be minor given the late hour and the assumed superiority of his position. Only when his line had begun to seriously crumble did Arista acknowledge the severity of the battle. After failing to rally his retreating infantry, Arista personally led a cavalry charge to try and break up American gains on the southern bank of the resaca. Though initially finding some success, the rough terrain quickly broke up the charge before it could deal any major damage to Taylor's forces.
West of the road, Captain Robert C. Buchanan and men of the 4th Infantry found a trail which turned towards the Mexican left flank, enabling them to take and hold the battery located there. They held the position against General Pedro de Ampudia's counterattacks, and the entire Mexican force panicked and fled across the Rio Grande, with many Mexican soldiers drowning in the attempt.
Battle of Monterrey. 
Taylor's army, with the Texas Division leading under the command of Major General and Texas Governor James Pinckney Henderson, reached the plain in front of Monterrey at 9 am on the morning of 19 September, when they were fired upon by Col. José López Uraga's 4th Infantry guns, located at San Patricio Battery atop the citadel. Taylor ordered the army to camp at Bosque de San Domingo while engineers under the command of Major Joseph K. Mansfieldreconnoitered.
Besides the citadel, Mexican strong points within the city included the "Black Fort" (Col. Jose Lopez Uraga, 3d & 4th Line and 9 guns – incl. "San Patricio" Battery); "the Tannery," La Teneria, (2d Ligero under Col. José M. Carrasco and part of the Querétaro Battalion, and 2 guns & 1 mountain howitzer – Lt (?) J. Espejo) El Fortín del Rincón del Diablo (Lt. Col. Calisto Bravo and 3 guns- Capt. Ignacio Joaquin del Arenal); La Purísima bridge and tete-de-pont (Activos of Aguascalientes under Col. Jose Ferro and the Querétaro under Comdte. José María Herrera 3 guns – Capt. P. Gutierez). West of the city atop Independencia stood Ft. Libertad ( 4 guns) and the Obispado (bishop's place) with the Activos of Mexico commanded by Lt. Col. Francisco de Berra and 3 guns and 1 howitzer, and atop Federacion was a redan(2 guns) and Fort Soldado. In reserve at la Plaza was the 3d Ligero under Lt. Col. Juan Castro and 1 gun – Lt. Agustín Espinosa.
General Zachary Taylor decided to attack western Monterrey using William J. Worth's Division in a giant north and west "hook" movement while simultaneously attacking with his main body from the east. Worth started at 2 pm on 20 September with Col. John Coffee Hays's Texas Mounted Riflemen Regimentscreening the advance, but camped for the night three miles from the Saltillo road.
By 6 am on 21 September, Worth continued his advance, repulsing a Jaliscocavalry charge by Col. Juan Nájera, killing the latter and an advance guard consisting of General Manuel Romero's brigade and Lt. Col. Mariano Moret's Guanajuato Regiment. By 8:15 am, Worth had severed the Saltillo road from Monterrey and sent Capt. Charles F. Smith with 300 infantry and Texans, plus Capt. Dixon Miles's 7th Infantry and Persifor Smith's 2nd Brigade to take Federacion and Fort Soldado, which they quickly did.
In the meantime, Taylor launched a diversion against eastern Monterrey with Col. John Garland's 1st and 3d Infantry plus Lt. Col. William H. Watson's Maryland and District of Columbia Battalion, which quickly grew into an assault. By 8 am, Capt. Electus Backus's company of the 1st Infantry had taken the tannery and by noon, with Col. William B. Campbell's 1st Tennessee and Mississippi Rifles, had taken Fort de La Teneria.
No attacks or sorties occurred on 22 September.
At 3 am on 23 September, Worth sent the Texas Rangers and the 4th and 8th Infantry, under Lt. Col. Thomas Childs, to take Fort Libertad on Independencia, which they did by daybreak. With the help of James Duncan's battery, they soon took the Obispado and had control of western Monterrey. By then, the Mexicans had abandoned their outer defenses on the east side of Monterrey, concentrating in the Plaza Mayor, and John A. Quitman's brigade held eastern Monterrey by 11 am.
During the exchange of fire, a young Mexican woman named María Josefa Zozayawandered into the crossfire to tend to the wounds of injured soldiers of both armies. Maria would survive the battle and go on to marry and have six children. Maria would die in 1860 at the age of 38.[contradictory]
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monterrey_1847_litograf%C3%ADa_de_F._Swinton.jpg|right|thumb|Monterrey from Independence Hill, in the rear of the Bishop´s Palace. On stone by F. Swington. Colored by G. & W. Edicott, New York. The 1847 image depicts the Saddle Hill and the bishop's house in Monterrey after the battle.
By 2 pm on 23 September, General Worth advanced into the city from the west, burrowing[clarification needed] house to house, supported in the late afternoon by a mortar set up in Plaza de la Capella, and were within a block west of the plaza by 11 pm. The Texan volunteers taught the U.S. regulars new techniques for fighting in the city, techniques that they did not employ on 21 September, which led to staggering casualties. Armed with these new urban warfare skills, the U.S. Army, along with Texan, Mississippian, and Tennessee volunteers moved house to house, rooting out Mexican soldiers hiding on rooftops and inside the thick, adobe-walled houses of northern Mexico. By 2 pm, Taylor and Quitman were within two blocks east of the plaza when Taylor ordered a withdrawal before nightfall.
General Ampudia decided to negotiate on 24 September. Taylor negotiated a two-month armistice, along the line Rinconada Pass-Linares-San Fernando de Parras, in return for the surrender of the city. The Mexican Army was allowed to march from the city from 26 to 28 September, with their personal arms and one field battery of six guns.
Battle of Buena Vista.
Santa Anna had chosen the day of battle, not apparently aware that it was George Washington's birthday, which galvanized patriotic sentiment among the U.S. forces. "A more inopportune moment could not have been selected by the Mexican general." A captured U.S. soldier said the Mexicans found it hard to believe that General Washington had not been leading the troops himself, but had been dead for nearly fifty years.
Santa Anna had advanced to Carnero Pass below Agua Nueva on February 21 and on February 22 demanded Taylor's surrender, to which Taylor's aide, William Wallace Smith Bliss, replied, "I beg leave to say that I decline acceding to your request."
Santa Anna began the attack with a feint by Mejía to the American right, but his main thrust was to the American left. Wool moved three companies of Kentucky cavalry under Colonel Humphrey Marshall and four rifle companies of the Arkansas regiment under Colonel John S. Roane and four companies of Hoosiersunder Major Willis A. Gorman to strengthen his left. Marshall and Ampudia's men skirmished by 3:30 pm, but darkness brought an end to the fighting.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Daguerreotype_of_Braxton_Bragg,_around_the_time_of_Mexican_War.jpg|thumb|Lieutenant colonel Braxton Bragg, around the time of the Mexican War
After dark, Taylor, escorted by the MississippiRifles, Colonel Jefferson Davis, and Charles A. May's dragoons, checked on the Saltillo garrison, but returned by 9:00 am on February 23. During the night, Brigadier General Manuel Micheltorena moved five 8-pounders above the American left, intending to flank them along the high ground the next morning at daylight.
Ampudia's brigade started the assault, supported by Lombardini and Pacheco's divisions, while Moras demonstrated against the American right. The 2nd Indiana faced a force of 7,000 Mexicans, prompting Wool to send the 2nd Illinois and Captain Thomas W. Sherman's battery in support.
The Hoosiers, after taking 90 casualties, broke and fled, forcing the 2nd Illinois into a slow fighting withdrawal, and Marshall's men to flee northward to the Buena Vista hacienda. Juvera's cavalry was able to turn the American left flank and head for Buena Vista.
Davis' Mississippians were ordered to shield Buena Vista along with the volunteers of the Arkansas and Kentucky cavalry, the 3rd Indiana, and Captain Enoch Steen's dragoons. A large Mexican force routed the cavalry, killing Archibald Yell, and then reached the hacienda of Buena Vista. They had expected the building to be full of provisions, but instead they were dismayed to find that U.S. troops taking refuge in it were persuaded by their officers to defend it. The Mexican forces withdrew, pursued by U.S. cavalry.
Steen's dragoons were able to split Juvera's column, forcing the advance portion past the hacienda and under fire from Sherman's battery, while the dragoons threw the rest into confusion. Davis' men then sent the Mexicans fleeing, although Davis was wounded in the heel.
Major John Munroe organized the defense of the hacienda proper, using the 2nd Indiana, from Juvera's attacks, while the Mississippians and the 3rd Indiana were organized into a large "V" which forced Juvera's approximately 2,000 survivors into a ravine. A young Mexican lieutenant, José María Montoya, tricked Taylor into a ceasefire, allowing the trapped Mexicans enough time to escape. Brigadier José Vicente Miñón appeared before Saltillo but retreated to the southwest.
Santa Anna renewed an attack on the main U.S. position led by General Francisco Pérez with artillery support. They were met at 5:00 p.m. by fire from O'Brien and Thomas's guns and two Illinois and a Kentucky regiment under Colonel John J. Hardin, during which Hardin was killed.
An artillery battery under Captain Braxton Bragg then arrived with orders to "maintain the position at all costs". Taylor rode over to Bragg, and after a brief conversation in which Bragg replied he was using single canister shot, Taylor ordered "double-shot your guns and give 'em hell, Bragg". Later, this order, although misquoted as "give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg", would be used as a campaign slogan that carried Taylor into the White House. Pérez's attack was repelled and the fighting ended as heavy rain fell over the field. On the battlefield, the heroine of Fort Brown, Sarah A. Bowman, known as the "Great Western", ministered to American troops, including "bolstering the nerves of the soldiers."
Santa Anna believed his army was on the verge of exhaustion and collapse, due to lack of provisions. Some Mexican soldiers were so driven by hunger that they "conducted unauthorized attacks just so they could take food from the Americans". In assessing whether to hold the field or withdraw, Santa Anna calculated that the lack of provisions would drive many of his men to desertion. On February 23, some of Santa Anna's council of war at Agua Nueva advised withdrawal,while others argued that cattle could be driven there to provision the soldiers. Those that argued for remaining thought that with one more day of fighting, the Mexicans would achieve a complete victory. However, the decision was to withdraw to Agua Nueva, and they left their campfires ablaze to confuse the U.S. troops.Taylor led his army back to Nueva Agua, but he did not pursue Santa Anna any further south.
Many U.S. soldiers going into battle with Mexican forces held Mexicans to be their racial inferiors and poor soldiers. These soldiers were often unbelieving, but "learned after Monterey and Buena Vista to respect the fighting qualities of the Mexican soldier".
== Presidency (1849–1850) ==
=== Transition ===
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As president-elect, Taylor kept his distance from Washington, not resigning his Western Division command until late January 1849. He spent the months following the election formulating his cabinet selections. He was deliberate and quiet about his decisions, to the frustration of his fellow Whigs. While he despised patronage and political games, he endured a flurry of advances from office-seekers looking to play a role in his administration.
While he would appoint no Democrats, Taylor wanted his cabinet to reflect the nation's diverse interests, and so apportioned the seats geographically. He also avoided choosing prominent Whigs, sidestepping such obvious selections as Clay. He saw Crittenden as a cornerstone of his administration, offering him the crucial seat of Secretary of State, but Crittenden insisted on serving out the governorship of Kentucky to which he had just been elected. Taylor settled on Senator John M. Clayton of Delaware, a close associate of Crittenden's.
The Taylor cabinet 	The Taylor cabinet 	The Taylor cabinet
Office 	Name 	Term
 	 	
President 	Zachary Taylor 	1849–1850
 	 	
Vice President 	Millard Fillmore 	1849–1850
 	 	
Secretary of State 	John M. Clayton 	1849–1850
 	 	
Secretary of the Treasury	William M. Meredith 	1849–1850
 	 	
Secretary of War 	George W. Crawford 	1849–1850
 	 	
Attorney General 	Reverdy Johnson 	1849–1850
 	 	
Postmaster General 	Jacob Collamer 	1849–1850
 	 	
Secretary of the Navy 	William Ballard Preston	1849–1850
 	 	
Secretary of the Interior	Thomas Ewing 	1849–1850
With Clayton's aid, Taylor chose the six remaining members of his cabinet. One of the incoming Congress's first actions would be to establish the Department of the Interior, so Taylor would be appointing that department's inaugural secretary. Thomas Ewing, who had previously served as a senator from Ohio and as Secretary of the Treasury under William Henry Harrison, accepted the patronage-rich position of Secretary of the Interior. For the position of Postmaster General, also a center of patronage, Taylor chose Congressman Jacob Collamer of Vermont.
After Horace Binneyrefused appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, Taylor chose another prominent Philadelphian, William M. Meredith. George W. Crawford, a former governor of Georgia, accepted the position of Secretary of War, while Congressman William B. Preston of Virginia became Secretary of the Navy. Senator Reverdy Johnson of Maryland accepted appointment as Attorney General, and became one of the most influential members of Taylor's cabinet. Fillmore was not in favor with Taylor, and was largely sidelined throughout Taylor's presidency.
Taylor began his trek to Washington in late January, a journey rife with bad weather, delays, injuries, sickness—and an abduction by a family friend. Taylor finally arrived in the nation's capital on February 24 and soon met with the outgoing President Polk. Polk held a low opinion of Taylor, privately deeming him "without political information" and "wholly unqualified for the station" of president. Taylor spent the next week meeting with political elites, some of whom were unimpressed with his appearance and demeanor. With less than two weeks until his inauguration, he met with Clayton and hastily finalized his cabinet.
=== Inauguration ===
Main article: Inauguration of Zachary Taylor
Taylor's term as president began on Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the next day out of religious concerns. His inauguration speech discussed the many tasks facing the nation, but presented a governing style of deference to Congress and sectional compromise instead of assertive executive action. His speech also emphasized the importance of following President Washington's precedent in avoiding entangling alliances.
During the period after his inauguration, Taylor made time to meet with numerous office-seekers and other ordinary citizens who desired his attention. He also attended an unusual number of funerals, including services for Polk and Dolley Madison. According to Eisenhower, Taylor coined the phrase "First Lady" in his eulogy for Madison. In the summer of 1849, Taylor toured the Northeastern United States to familiarize himself with a region of which he had seen little. He spent much of the trip plagued by gastrointestinal illness and returned to Washington by September.
=== Sectional crisis ===
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zachary_Taylor_12th_US_President.jpg|thumb|Daguerreotype of Taylor by Mathew Brady, 1849
As Taylor took office, Congress faced a battery of questions related to the Mexican Cession, acquired by the U.S. after the Mexican War and divided into military districts. It was unclear which districts would be established into states and which would become federal territories, while the question of their slave status threatened to bitterly divide Congress. Southerners objected to the admission of the California Territory, the New Mexico Territory, and the Utah Territory to the Union as free states despite California's demographic and economic growth. Additionally, Southerners had grown increasingly angry about the aid that Northerners had given to fugitive slaves after Prigg v. Pennsylvania allowed slave catchers to capture alleged runaway slaves in free states, and that Northern authorities frequently refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. At the same time, northerners demanded the abolition of the domestic slave trade in Washington, D.C. Finally, Texas claimed parts of eastern New Mexico and threatened to send its state militia to militarily enforce its territorial claims.
While a Southern slaveowner himself, Taylor believed that slavery was economically infeasible in the Mexican Cession, and so opposed slavery in those territories as a needless source of controversy. His major goal was sectional peace, preserving the Union through legislative compromise. As the threat of Southern secession grew, he sided increasingly with antislavery Northerners such as Senator William H. Seward of New York, even suggesting that he would sign the Wilmot Proviso to ban slavery in federal territories should such a bill reach his desk.
In Taylor's view, the best way forward was to admit California as a state rather than a federal territory, as it would leave the slavery question out of Congress's hands. The timing for statehood was in Taylor's favor, as the California Gold Rush was well underway at the time of his inauguration, and California's population was exploding. The administration dispatched Representative Thomas Butler King to California, to test the waters and advocate statehood, knowing that Californians were certain to adopt an anti-slavery constitution. King found that a constitutional convention was already underway, and by October 1849, the convention unanimously agreed to join the Union—and to ban slavery within their borders.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_1849-1850.png|left|thumb|United States states (Texas border unsettled, California admitted in 1850) and territories during Taylor's presidency
The question of the New Mexico–Texas border was unsettled at the time of Taylor's inauguration. The territory newly won from Mexico was under federal jurisdiction, but the Texans claimed a swath of land north of Santa Fe and were determined to include it within their borders, despite having no significant presence there. Taylor sided with the New Mexicans' claim, initially pushing to keep it as a federal territory, but eventually supported statehood so as to further reduce the slavery debate in Congress. The Texas government, under newly instated governor P. Hansborough Bell, tried to ramp up military action in defense of the territory against the federal government, but was unsuccessful.
The Latter Day Saint (Mormon) settlers of modern-day Utah had established a provisional State of Deseret, an enormous swath of territory that had little hope of recognition by Congress. The Taylor administration considered combining the California and Utah territories but instead opted to organize the Utah Territory. To alleviate the Mormon concerns over religious freedom, Taylor promised they would have relative independence from Congress despite being a federal territory.
Taylor sent his only State of the Union report to Congress in December 1849. He recapped international events and suggested several adjustments to tariff policy and executive organization, but the sectional crisis facing Congress overshadowed such issues. He reported on California's and New Mexico's applications for statehood, and recommended that Congress approve them as written and "should abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of a sectional character".The policy report was prosaic and unemotional, but ended with a sharp condemnation of secessionists. It had no effect on Southern legislators, who saw the admission of two free states as an existential threat, and Congress remained stalled.
=== Foreign affairs ===
Further information: History of U.S. foreign policy, 1829–1861
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:President_Taylor_and_his_cabinet.jpg|thumb|President Zachary Taylor standing in front of his Cabinet, seated from left: Reverdy Johnson, Attorney General; William M. Meredith, Secretary of the Treasury; William B. Preston, Secretary of the Navy; George W. Crawford, Secretary of War; Jacob Collamer, Postmaster General; Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Interior; and John M. Clayton, Secretary of State. Lithograph by Francis D'Avignon, published by Mathew Brady, 1849.
Taylor and his Secretary of State, John M. Clayton, both lacked diplomatic experience and came into office at a relatively uneventful time in American–international politics. Their shared nationalism allowed Taylor to devolve foreign policy matters to Clayton with minimal oversight, although no decisive foreign policy was established under their administration. As opponents of the autocratic European order, they vocally supported German and Hungarian liberals in the revolutions of 1848, although they offered nothing in the way of aid.
A perceived insult from the French minister Guillaume Tell Poussin nearly led to a break in diplomatic relations until Poussin was replaced, and a reparation dispute with Portugal resulted in harsh words from the Taylor administration. In a more positive effort, the administration arranged for two ships to assist in the United Kingdom's search for a team of British explorers, led by John Franklin, who had gotten lost in the Arctic. While previous Whig administrations had emphasized Pacific trade as an economic imperative, the Taylor administration took no major initiative in the Far East.
Throughout 1849 and 1850, they contended with Narciso López, the Venezuelanradical who led repeated filibustering expeditions in an attempt to conquer the Spanish Captaincy General of Cuba. The annexation of Cuba was the object of fascination among many in the South, who saw in Cuba a potential new slave state, and López had several prominent Southern supporters. López made generous offers to United States Armed Forces leaders to support him, but Taylor and Clayton saw the enterprise as illegal. They issued a blockade, and later, authorized a mass arrest of López and his fellows, although the group would eventually be acquitted. They also confronted Spain, which had arrested several Americans on the charge of piracy, but the Spaniards eventually surrendered them to maintain good relations with the U.S.
Arguably the Taylor administration's definitive accomplishment in foreign policy was the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850, regarding a proposed inter-oceanic canal through Central America. While the U.S. and Britain were on friendly terms, and the construction of such a canal was decades away from reality, the mere possibility put the two nations in an uneasy position. For several years, Britain had been seizing strategic points, particularly the Mosquito Coast on the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua. Negotiations were held with Britain that resulted in the landmark Clayton–Bulwer Treaty. Both nations agreed not to claim control of any canal that might be built in Nicaragua. The treaty promoted the development of an Anglo-American alliance; its completion was Taylor's last action as president.
=== Compromise attempts and final days ===
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zachary_Taylor_at_the_White_House_daguerreotype_by_Mathew_Brady_1849_(edited).jpg|thumb|Daguerrotype of Taylor by Matthew Brady, c. 1849
Clay took a central role as Congress debated slavery. While his positions overlapped somewhat with Taylor's, the president always maintained his distance from Clay. Historians disagree on his motivations for doing so. This caused Taylor to become politically isolated as Southerners disapproved of his preference to appoint the territories of the Mexican Cession as free states while Northerners disapproved of his opposition to Clay's legislative agenda. As a result, Congress increasingly ignored Taylor while drafting a compromise. With assistance from Daniel Webster, Clay developed his landmark proposal, the Compromise of 1850. The proposal allowed statehood for California, giving it independence on the slavery question, while the other territories would remain under federal jurisdiction. This included the disputed parts of New Mexico, although Texas would be reimbursed for the territory.
Slavery would be retained in the District of Columbia, but the slave trade would be banned. Meanwhile, a strict Fugitive Slave Law would be enacted, bypassing northern legislation which had restricted Southerners from retrieving runaway slaves.
Tensions flared as Congress negotiated and secession talks grew, culminating with a threat from Taylor to send troops into New Mexico to protect its border from Texas, with himself leading the army. The crisis escalated after delegates in New Mexico proposed a new state constitution that would have banned slavery and Peter Hansborough Bell won the 1849 Texas gubernatorial election on a pledge to order a militia invasion of New Mexico. Southern senators accused Taylor of secretly sending the U.S. Army to New Mexico; Taylor denied the allegations but emphasized that he would like to. He also said that anyone "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico."
The omnibus law was a major step forward on these issues but ultimately could not pass, due to radicals on both sides and Taylor's opposition. At this point, Taylor began to receive disapproval from even his own political allies. Secretary of War Crawford warned Taylor he would not approve a military deployment to New Mexico, although Taylor said he would give the order himself. Taylor's close advisors Robert Toombs and Alexander Stephens, both Southern Whigs who later served as officials in the Confederate government, warned him that his rhetoric on New Mexico would drive Southerners out of the party.
No great compromise reached Taylor's desk during his presidency; instead, his last days were overshadowed by the Galphin affair. Before joining the Taylor cabinet, Crawford had served as a lawyer. He had been involved in a 15-year case, representing the descendants of a colonial trader whose services to the British crown had not been repaid at the time of the American Revolution. The British debt to George Galphin was to be assumed by the federal government, but Galphin's heirs received payment on the debt's principal only after years of litigation, and were unable to win an interest payment from the Polk administration.
Treasury Secretary Meredith, with the support of Attorney General Johnson, finally signed off on the payment in April 1850. To Taylor's embarrassment, the payment included a legal compensation of nearly $100,000 to Crawford; two cabinet members had effectively offered a tremendous chunk of the public treasury to another. A House investigation cleared Crawford of any legal wrongdoing, but nonetheless expressed disapproval of his accepting the payment. Taylor, who had already been sketching a reorganization of his cabinet, now had an unfolding scandal to complicate the situation. The House of Representatives voted to censure Taylor, and newspapers of both parties began calling for his impeachment.
=== Judicial appointments ===
See also: List of federal judges appointed by Zachary Taylor
Judicial appointments
Court 	Name 	Term
W.D. La. 	Henry Boyce 	1849–1861
D. Ill. 	Thomas Drummond	1850–1855
N.D. Ala.M.D. Ala.S.D. Ala.	John Gayle 	1849–1859
D. Ark. 	Daniel Ringo 	1849–1851
== Death ==
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Death_of_Genl._Z._Taylor,_12th_President_of_the_United_States_(cropped).jpg|thumb|An 1850 print depicting the death of Zachary Taylor
On July 4, 1850, Taylor reportedly consumed copious amounts of cherries and iced milk while attending holiday celebrations during a fund-raising event at the Washington Monument, which was then under construction.Over the course of several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment initially resembling acute gastroenteritis. The illness initially seemed mild, and on the first day Taylor felt well enough to continue working. His condition worsened thereafter. His Army physician Alexander S. Wotherspoon "diagnosed the illness as cholera morbus, a flexible mid-nineteenth-century term for intestinal ailments as diverse as diarrhea and dysentery but not related to Asiatic cholera", the latter a widespread epidemic prevalent in Washington, D.C., at the time of Taylor's death. The identity and source of Taylor's illness are the subject of historical speculation (see below), although it is known that several of his cabinet members had come down with a similar illness.
Fever ensued and Taylor's chance of recovery was small. On July 8, Taylor remarked to a medical attendant:I should not be surprised if this were to terminate in my death. I did not expect to encounter what has beset me since my elevation to the Presidency. God knows I have endeavored to fulfill what I conceived to be an honest duty. But I have been mistaken. My motives have been misconstrued, and my feelings most grossly outraged.Taylor died at 10:35 p.m. on July 9, 1850. He was 65 years old. After his death, Vice President Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed Taylor's term, which ended on March 4, 1853. Soon after taking office, Fillmore signed into law the Compromise of 1850, with the aim of settling many of the issues the Taylor administration faced.
A Joint Special Committee was appointed by the Common Council of the city of New York to make the arrangements for Taylor's funeral, which took place in New York City on July 23, 1850. A procession moved from the Park and proceeded down Broadway, to Chatham Street to the Bowery; down to Union Square; and then in front of the City Hall. The procession included the firing of three volleys by the 7th National Guard Regiment. There were 30 pallbearers, which was the number of states in the Union at that time. Taylor was buried in an airtight Fisk metallic burial case with a glass window plate for viewing the deceased's face. He was interred in the Public Vault of the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., from July 13 to October 25, 1850. His body was transported to the Taylor family plot, where his parents were buried, on the old Taylor homestead plantation known as "Springfield" in Louisville, Kentucky.
=== Assassination theories ===
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TAYLOR,_Zachary-President_(BEP_engraved_portrait).jpg|right|thumb|B.E.P. engraved portrait
Almost immediately after his death, rumors began to circulate that Taylor had been poisoned by pro-slavery Southerners or Catholics, and similar theories persisted into the 21st century. A few weeks after Taylor's death, President Fillmore received a letter alleging that Taylor had been poisoned by a Jesuitlay official. In 1978, Hamilton Smith based his assassination theory on the timing of drugs, the lack of confirmed cholera outbreaks, and other material. Theories that Taylor had been murdered grew after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In 1881, John Bingham, well known for serving as the Judge Advocate General at the Lincoln assassination trial, wrote an editorial in The New York Times alleging that Jefferson Davis had poisoned Taylor.
In the late 1980s, Clara Rising, a former professor at the University of Florida, persuaded Taylor's closest living relative to agree to an exhumation so that his remains could be tested. The remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner on June 17, 1991. Samples of hair, fingernail, and other tissues were removed, and radiological studies were conducted. The remains were returned to the cemetery and reinterred, with appropriate honors, in the mausoleum.
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. Any potential for recovery was overwhelmed by his doctors, who treated him with "ipecac, calomel, opium, and quinine" at 40 grains per dose (approximately 2.6 grams), and "bled and blistered him too."
Political scientist Michael Parenti questions the traditional explanation for Taylor's death. Relying on interviews and reports by forensic pathologists, he argues that the procedure used to test for arsenic poisoning was flawed. A 2010 review concludes: "there is no definitive proof that Taylor was assassinated, nor would it appear that there is definitive proof that he was not."
== Historical reputation and memorials ==
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zachary_Taylor_Grave.JPG|right|thumb|Taylor's mausoleum at the Zachary Taylor National Cemeteryin Louisville, Kentucky
Because of his short tenure, Taylor is not considered to have strongly influenced the office of the presidency or the United States. Some historians believe that he was too inexperienced with politics at a time when officials needed close ties with political operatives. Despite his shortcomings, the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty affecting relations with Great Britain in Central America is "recognized as an important step in scaling down the nation's commitment to Manifest Destiny as a policy." Historical rankings of presidents of the United States have generally placed Taylor in the bottom quarter.
Taylor was the last president to own slaves while in office. He was the third of four Whig presidents, the last being Fillmore, his successor. Taylor was also the second president to die in office, preceded by William Henry Harrison, who died while serving as president nine years earlier.
In 1883, the Commonwealth of Kentucky placed a 50-foot monument topped by a life-sized statue of Taylor near his grave. By the 1920s, the Taylor family initiated the effort to turn the Taylor burial grounds into a national cemetery. The Commonwealth of Kentucky donated two adjacent parcels of land for the project, turning the half-acre Taylor family cemetery into 16 acres (65,000 m2). On May 5, 1926, the remains of Taylor and his wife (who died in 1852) were moved to the newly constructed Taylor mausoleum, made of limestone with a granite base and marble interior, nearby. The cemetery property was designated as the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery by Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis on March 12, 1928.
The US Post Office released the first postage stamp issue honoring Taylor on June 21, 1875, 25 years after his death. In 1938, Taylor again appeared on a US postage stamp, this time the 12-cent Presidential Issue of 1938. His last appearance (to date, 2010) on a US postage stamp occurred in 1986, when he was honored on the AMERIPEX presidential issue. After Washington, Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln, Taylor was the fifth American president to appear on US postage.
Taylor is the namesake of several entities and places around the nation, including:
* Camp Taylor in Kentucky and Fort Zachary Taylor in Florida
* The SS Zachary Taylor, a World War II Liberty ship
* Zachary Taylor Parkway in Louisiana and Zachary Taylor Hall at Southeastern Louisiana University
* Taylor County, Georgia
* Taylor County, Iowa
* Taylor County, Kentucky
* Rough and Ready, California; the historical origin of the town is depicted in a 1965 episode of the syndicated western television series Death Valley Days.
* Zachary Taylor Highway in Virginia
* Taylor, Michigan
* Taylor Street, Savannah, Georgia.
Taylor was also the namesake of architect Zachary Taylor Davis.