12. ZACHARY TAYLOR 1849-1850
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.
This information is from the Whitehouse.org website.