Zachary Taylor
![Taylor {{Circa|1843–1845}}](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Zachary_Taylor_restored_and_cropped_%28cropped%29%282%29.jpg)
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. 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. 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 Treaty and 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". Provided by Wikipedia
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Letters of Zachary Taylor : from the battle-fields of the Mexican war / by Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850
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Major General Taylor's reply to resolutions of Virginia Legislature by Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850
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Zachary Taylor papers by Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850
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African Squadron. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting information in reference to the African Squadron. July 22, 1850. Referred to the Committee on Naval...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information in relation to military orders issued to the United State...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, with copies of the correspondence in relation to the boundary of Texas, called for by a resolution of the Senate. January 31, 1850....
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, in answer to a resolution of the Senate calling for a statement of the amount of prize money paid into the Treasury under the eight...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message of the President of the United States, transmitting reports from the several heads of department relative to the subject of the resolution of the Senate of the 23d of May,...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Navigation laws, and tariff on British productions. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a correspondence between the Department of State and the British M...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Reciprocal trade with Canada. Message from the President of the United States, relative to the reciprocal admission of the natural products of the United States and Canada free of...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating information, in answer to a resolution of the Senate, relative to hostilities committed by the Seminole Indians in Fl...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, in answer to a resolution of the Senate, relative to the assemblage of persons on Round Island, coast of Mississippi, during the su...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, in answer to a resolution of the Senate relative to the payment of the Peruvian indemnity. June 28, 1850. Read, and ordered to be p...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information in relation to military orders issued to the United State...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, in answer to a resolution of the Senate calling for information in relation to the formation of a state government in New Mexico. J...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating a copy of the constitution of California. February 13, 1850. Read, ordered to be printed, and the further considerati...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Tigre Island. Message from the President of the United States, on the subject of the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th ultimo, in relation to the seizure of Ti...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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California. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting an authenticated copy of the constitution of the State of California. February 13, 1850. Committed to the...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating copies of the correspondence with the British minister relative to the trade in British vessels between the Atlantic...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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Navigation laws, and tariff on British productions. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a correspondence between the Department of State and the British M...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850…”
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