rubber soul

And went on to be the greatest shoe salesman to ever live



Anyway...


12. ZACHARY TAYLOR (Life is a bowl of cherries)





Born: November 24, 1784, Barboursville, Virginia
Died: July 9, 1850, Washington DC (died in office)

Term: March 4, 1849- July 9, 1850
Political Party: Whig

Vice President: Millard Fillmore

First Lady: Margaret Smith Taylor

Before the Presidency: Taylor was born into an agricultural family in 1784. He wasn’t the brightest of students and decided early on for a military career, something that began in earnest as he was assigned to command the garrison at Fort Pickering, where modern day Memphis is today. He went from military outpost to military outpost for much of his career until 1840. Even so, General Taylor earned a reputation as a formidable fighter as he battled various Indian tribes such as the Sacs in 1832 and the Seminoles in Florida later in the decade.

This wasn’t another Andrew Jackson hell bent on genocide, however. He was just as willing to protect Indian lands from would be white settlers. He actually admired their military tactics and felt sympathy for what was happening to them. He felt the best solution was to be a buffer between the Native Americans and the white settlers hoping that both sides could live in peace.

His real fame, of course, would come in the Mexican-American War. After Texas became a state late in 1845, President Polk ordered Taylor into disputed lands on the US- Mexico border. This incited Santa Ana to attack Taylor, giving Polk his excuse to declare war.

It didn’t end there, of course. Taylor, outnumbered but with superior artillery, won battle after battle, peaking at the battle of Monterrey. Meanwhile, General Scott, in his quest to take (successfully) Mexico City, had half of Taylors troops sent to him to battle at Vera Cruz. Santa Ana thought he had Taylor right where he wanted him and threw his forces against the depleted Taylor at Buena Vista. Needless to say, Santa Ana failed. Taylor’s men were victorious and the Mexican Napoleon, as Santa Ana liked to call himself, exited with his proverbial tail between his legs.

Taylor became the talk of mythical legend not unlike George Washington in many ways. Stories of how he took the enemy in hand to hand combat were floated around and by 1848, everyone knew all about Ol’ Rough and Ready.


Summary of offices held:

1808-1849: Major General, United States Army.

Fought in War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War.


What was going on: Slavery, Post Mexican- American war, Compromise of 1850

Scandals within the administration: The Galphin Affair

Why he was a good President: He was perhaps the first President to take a stand against slavery, albeit a baby step. He was also the first President to assert that the Union must hold together (It could be argued that Jackson asserted that first, but I suspect that was more to do with the conflict with John Calhoun).

Why he was a bad President: Quite simply, he wasn’t the most forceful of Presidents. He opposed the Compromise of 1850 and even helped to impede its passage, but he didn’t offer any solutions to the impasse.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more forceful approach to the slavery question. Maybe he could have made a gesture by freeing his own slaves. Judging from his early history, Taylor seemed to be a fairly compassionate man, and it would have been nice to see him take a stand, even if it was unpopular, as it most certainly would have been in 1850.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: The same thing that probably destroyed Fillmore’s. The indecision over the slavery issue wasn’t going to make matters better and, as we will discover, Fillmore’s decisions would be nothing short of disastrous.

Election of 1848: General Taylor, much like Eisenhower a century later, didn’t wear his politics on his sleeve. In fact, he had never even voted in an election. Various political parties were in demand for his services.

In the end, he chose the Whig party. As it turned out, Taylor was anything but Jacksonian, especially on the money issue. He didn’t like the concept of the spoils system (maybe he was born thirty years too early) and even wasn’t too keen on expanding slavery, even though he was a slave owner himself. He also agreed with the Whig philosophy of a stronger Congress as well as a strong cabinet (future Presidents would agree with him on the latter). He also was a Nationalist. He was not a fan of secession, much like Abraham Lincoln more than a decade later. And to top things off, he didn’t really like President Polk.

So, in a sense, Taylor was running against the lame duck President Polk, who did what he could to torpedo Taylor’s campaign. Taylor may not have done himself any favors politically either as he suggested he might not veto legislation prohibiting slavery in the Western lands. He firmly believed a President should only veto a bill if he thought it was unconstitutional. Needless to say, that didn’t endear him to the South. Abolitionists in the North weren’t all that crazy about him either as he was a well-known slave owner.

Still, most people didn’t really know Taylor’s positions and that was how the Whigs ran him. In the end, like Polk before him, he won with just a plurality of the popular vote with that crazy Martin Van Buren siphoning 10% of the vote. The real race, of course, was against Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan but he ended up winning a relatively close victory in the electoral vote.

First term: As soon as Taylor took office, the issue of slavery would be front and center. He urged Congress to admit California and New Mexico as states without addressing the issue of slavery. Taylor had assumed that neither proposed state would support slavery nor would the other western territories. Utah was being occupied by a sect known as the Mormons. They believed in polygamy and were probably considered more of a cult in those days, but they were also vehemently opposed to slavery. President Taylor clearly had no taste to expand slavery any more than it already had so he had hoped a free west would end the spread of slavery for good.

Of course, it only angered Southern Whigs not to mention most of the Democrats. The Southern Democrats in fact were threatening to secede, the last thing Taylor wanted. So, Henry Clay came up with something called the Compromise of 1850 which would allow California as a free state and leave the rest as territories that would still technically allow slavery. Some more moderate Southerners supported the compromise feeling it would still ensure slavery in the South where it really mattered to them anyway. But there was strong opposition from Webster, Calhoun, and a new face, one Stephen A Douglas who was soon to make his own political mark on American politics. Another opponent would prove to be quite notorious; his name was Jefferson Davis.

Taylor himself seemed ambivalent on the compromise but he was leaning against it for different reasons than the Southern Democrats and Whigs. He wasn’t for expanding slavery, but he was willing to let the states decide (which he rightfully expected would vote to oppose slavery). I suspect he just wanted the states.

On the foreign front, there wasn’t much in terms of accomplishments, but the Clayton- Bulwer treaty was signed on his watch. There was a dispute with British Honduras with the American interest to build a canal in Nicaragua. In the end, they signed a treaty renouncing any control or dominion on any canal that might be built. It effectively ended Polk’s dream of Manifest Destiny, but it did strengthen American interests and influence in Central America.

Death: It was the Fourth of July 1850. It was a day of celebration as it was Independence Day. It was a hot summery day as the President relaxed under the blazing sun as he listened to various speakers. Later he took a walk along the Potomac and by late afternoon retired to the White House. There he ate a chilled bowl of cherries along with some milk. He became ill later that day but I’m sure it was assumed it was a touch of food poisoning, certainly common in the unsanitized 1850s.

But the President’s condition worsened within two days, and it was obvious that something serious was going on. A doctor was called in and he was diagnosed with having something called cholera morbus. This didn’t mean he necessarily had cholera, just a serious gastrointestinal condition. Taylor took ice chips for as long as he could, but the body would eventually reject it.

Zachary Taylor died on July 9 leaving a very incomplete Presidency.

Odd notes: Taylor could read but barely write

Doctors thought Taylor was killed by cherries and milk

https://facts.net/zachary-taylor-facts/

Final Summary: Taylor’s short reign was certainly incomplete, and he didn’t really have a lot of vision. He obviously was troubled by the slavery issue and maybe even felt guilty of having slaves of his own. I also wonder if maybe the Civil War could have started a decade earlier and maybe it would have been Taylor who could have gotten the accolades Lincoln would receive in historical retrospect.

But he clearly had compassion for people not as fortunate as himself. He may very well have been a friend to the Native Americans. And he did score at least one diplomatic victory with the Ashburton- Bulwer treaty.

But, alas, a contaminated bowl of cherries and milk pretty much screwed it all up for him- and maybe the country.

For, compared to his Vice- President and successor, Taylor looked like Teddy Roosevelt.

Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/taylor

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