Taylor, Zachary

Taylor, Zachary (1784–1850), twelfth president of the United States.Born in Virginia and reared in Kentucky, Taylor acquired plantations and many slaves in Louisiana. Joining the army in 1808, he fought with distinction in the War of 1812. Placed in command of western forts, he honored Indian treaties; prevented white settlement of Indian lands; and during the Seminole wars in Florida, refused to return to their owners escaped slaves living with the Seminoles.

Although opposed to Texas annexation, Taylor in January 1846 was ordered by President James Knox Polk to advance to the Rio Grande River. A Mexican attack on a unit of his army in April led to the Mexican War. Winning battles against numerical odds, he became a national hero, nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready.” As the Whig party's presidential candidate in 1848, he defeated Democrat Lewis Cass. Although a slaveowner, Taylor as president defended the interests of slavery opponents. He angered fellow southerners by refusing to oppose the Wilmot Proviso banning slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. He also opposed southern efforts to extend slavery by filibustering expeditions to seize Cuba from Spain. His administration's principal foreign‐policy achievement was the Clayton‐Bulwer Treaty.

Seeking to defuse the bitter sectional controversy over the newly acquired territories, he supported statehood for California and New Mexico on the understanding that they would themselves decide the slavery issue. With his support, California voted to become a free state. Slaveholding Texas, however, claimed most of New Mexico. Taylor's threat of military intervention may have prevented Texas from seizing New Mexico by force. When southern legislators combined Henry Clay's compromise proposals into a single “Omnibus Bill,” Taylor opposed it as an effort to advance Texas's New Mexico claims. The Omnibus Bill eventually failed, and the amended parts that did pass, as the Compromise of 1850, generally conformed to Taylor's views. He did not live to see this outcome, however, having died on 9 July 1850 after a brief illness caused by gastroenteritis complicated by poor medical treatment. Vice president Millard Fillmore succeeded him.
See also Antebellum Era; Antislavery; Civil War: Causes; Expansionism; Federal Government, Executive Branch: The Presidency; Military, The; Political Parties; Texas Republic and Annexation.

Bibliography

Holman Hamiton , Zachary Taylor, Soldier of the Republic, 1941.
Holman Hamilton , Zachary Taylor, Soldier in the White House, 1951.
Elbert B. Smith , The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, 1988.

Elbert B. Smith