Zachary Taylor

12th President of the United States

### Children

Ann Mackall Taylor Wood (daughter), Sarah Knox Taylor Davis (daughter), Octavia Pannell Taylor (daughter), Margaret Smith Taylor (daughter), Mary Elizabeth Taylor Bliss (daughter), Richard Taylor (son)

### Parents

Richard Taylor (father)Sarah Dabney Strother (mother)

### Siblings

Joseph Pannell Taylor (brother), Hancock Taylor (brother), Emily Richard Taylor (sister), George Taylor (brother), Richard Strother Taylor (brother), Sarah Bailey Taylor (sister), Elizabeth Lee Taylor (sister), William Dabney Strother Taylor (brother)

### Awards

Congressional Gold Medal (3)Thanks of Congress

### Hair color

Brown

**Zachary Taylor**, a general and national hero in the United States Army from the time of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War, was elected the 12th U.S. President, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850.

*The Presidency of Zachary Taylor spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the Westward Expansion. President Zachary Taylor represented the Whig political party which influenced the domestic and foreign policies of his presidency.*

## Biography

Northerners 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.

## 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.

## Nicknames

* "Old Rough and Ready"
* "Old Zack"

*Meaning: The nickname of President Zachary Taylor provides an insight into how the man was viewed by the American public during his presidency. The meaning of the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" refers to his total disdain of tidy clothing, regardless of the occasion. The nickname "Old Zack" was a reference to his advancing age.*

## Inauguration

The **inauguration of Zachary Taylor** as the 12th president of the United States was held on Monday, March 5, 1849, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., and was the second instance of an inauguration being rescheduled due to March 4 falling on a Sunday, the Christian sabbath. This was the 16th regular inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both Zachary Taylor as president and Millard Fillmore as vice president. Taylor died 1 year, 126 days into this term, and Fillmore succeeded to the presidency. The presidential oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. Inauguration Day started off being cloudy with snow flurries, but turned to heavy snow during the inaugural balls.

## Presidents who died during his Presidency

* James K. Polk
* *(Died in Office)*

## Accomplishments and major events

*The major accomplishments and the famous, main events that occurred during the time that Zachary Taylor was president included the Apache Wars, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) and the Galphin affair (1850). Zachary Taylor died  suddenly from a stomach-related illness on July 9, 1850, aged 65. He had served just seventeen months in office and therefore had little impact on the events of the era.*

**Galphin scandal**

Summary: The Galphin scandal involved a serious dispute between the government and the Galphin family regarding compensation for unresolved debts owed to the Galphin estate. George Crawford, the Secretary of War, and William Meredith the Secretary of the Treasury both important members of Zachary Taylor's cabinet were involved and became subject to a congressional investigation.

## Death

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 DC 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.

## Facts and trivia

* Taylor was the last American President born before the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
* 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.
* Taylor's birthplace may have been Hare Forest Farm, the home of his maternal grandfather William Strother, though this has not been determined with certainty.
* Taylor's father, Richard Taylor, served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution.
* Taylor's family forsook their 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. The rapid growth of Louisville 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 originally 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, though his handwriting was always difficult to read.
* Taylor never attended college, having been taught by a number of tutors, and was reportedly a poor student.
* 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—she was the daughter of Major Walter Smith, who had served in the Revolutionary War. The couple had six children.
* Taylor's daughter, Sarah "Knoxie"married Jefferson Davis in 1835, a subordinate officer whom 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. Jefferson Davis would later become the President of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
* Taylor 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".
* Taylor served in the United States Army for over 40 years, reaching the rank of Major General.
* In 1845, during the annexation of Texas, President James K. Polk dispatched Taylor to the Rio Grande in anticipation of a battle with Mexico over 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, making him a national hero.
* The Whig Party convinced a reluctant Taylor to lead their ticket in the 1848 presidential election, despite his unclear political tenets and lack of interest in politics. Ironically, the 1848 Presidential Election was the first time that Taylor voted.
* 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 candidates 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 served in a prior political office.
* Taylor's term as president began Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the following 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.
* As president, Taylor 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 Treaty. Vice President Fillmore assumed the presidency and served the remainder of his term.
* Doctors of the day believed Taylor's death was caused by cholera contracted after eating fresh cherries and drinking milk on a hot summer day, but there were rumors to the effect that he had been poisoned because of his stance against the spread of enslavement. More than 140 years after his death, Taylor's body was exhumed to establish that he had not been poisoned. The level of arsenic in his body was consistent with other people of the time, but the level of antimony was not. Experts believe that his death was of natural causes, although some scholars remain unconvinced.
* Taylor was buried in an air-tight Fisk metallic burial case with a glass window plate for viewing the face of the deceased.
* Taylor was interred in the Public Vault of the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., from July 13, 1850, to October 25, 1850 (which was built in 1835 to hold remains of notables until either the grave site could be prepared or transportation arranged to another city). 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.
* 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 President 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.
* Taylor was the last president to own slaves while in office.
* Taylor 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.
* 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 Taylor was too inexperienced with politics, at a time when officials needed close ties with political operatives.
* 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".

## References

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary\_Taylor
* https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/zachary-taylor/
* https://www.american-historama.org/presidents-united-states/zachary-taylor.htm
* https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-223