Zachary Taylor
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.
