Zachary taylor biography summary organizers
Zachary Taylor
President of the United States from to
This article is about the president of the United States. For other people with the same name, see Zachary Taylor (disambiguation).
"General Taylor" and "Zach Taylor" redirect here. For other uses, see General Taylor (disambiguation).
Zachary Taylor | |
|---|---|
Taylor c.&#;– | |
| In office March 4, [a]&#;– July 9, | |
| Vice President | Millard Fillmore |
| Preceded by | James K.
Polk |
| Succeeded by | Millard Fillmore |
| In office April 23, &#;– July 23, | |
| Appointed by | James K. Polk |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | William Davenport |
| Born | ()November 24, Barboursville, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | July 9, () (aged&#;65) Washington County, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Zachary Taylor National Cemetery |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6, including Sarah, Mary, and Richard |
| Parent | |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Awards | |
| Signature | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years&#;of service | – |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | Army of Occupation |
| Battles/wars | |
Zachary Taylor (November 24, – July 9, ) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from until his death in Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general and becoming a national hero for his victories in the Mexican–American War.
As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was to preserve the Union. He died 16 months into his term from a stomach disease. Taylor had the third-shortest presidential term in U.S. history.
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 and made a name for himself as a captain in the War of He climbed the ranks of the military, establishing military forts along the Mississippi River and entering the Black Hawk War as a colonel in His success in the Second Seminole War attracted national attention and earned him the nickname "Old Rough and Ready".
In , 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 , 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 presidential election, despite his unclear political tenets and lack of interest in politics. At the 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
Taylor died suddenly of a stomach disease on July 9, , 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".[1]
Early life
Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, ,[2] on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry.
His birthplace may have been Hare Forest Farm, the home of his maternal grandfather William Strother, but this is uncertain.[3] Another possibility, one recognized by a historical marker, is Montebello, another Orange County estate.[4] He was the third of five surviving sons in his family (a sixth died in infancy) and had three younger sisters.
His mother was Sarah Dabney (née Strother) Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution.
Taylor was a descendant of Elder William Brewster, a Pilgrim leader of the Plymouth Colony, a Mayflower immigrant, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact; and Isaac Allerton Jr., a colonial merchant, colonel, and son of Mayflower Pilgrim Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster.
Taylor's second cousin through that line was James Madison, the fourth president. He was also a member of the famous Lee family of Virginia, and a third cousin once removed of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.[8]
His family forsook its exhausted Virginia land, joined the westward migration and settled near future Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River.
Taylor grew up in a small woodland cabin until, with increased prosperity, his family moved to a brick house. As a child, he lived in a battleground of the American Indian Wars, later claiming that he had seen Native Americans abduct and scalp his classmates while they were walking down the road together.[9] Louisville's rapid growth was a boon for Taylor's father, who by the start of the 19th century had acquired 10, acres (40&#;km2) throughout Kentucky, as well as 26 slaves to cultivate the most developed portion of his holdings.
Taylor's formal education was sporadic because Kentucky's education system was just taking shape during his formative years.
Taylor's mother taught him to read and write,[11] and he later attended a school operated by Elisha Ayer, a teacher originally from Connecticut. He also attended a Middletown, Kentucky, academy run by Kean O'Hara, a classically trained scholar from Ireland and the father of Theodore O'Hara.[12] Ayer recalled Taylor as a patient and quick learner, but his early letters showed a weak grasp of spelling and grammar, as well as poor handwriting.
All improved over time, but his handwriting remained difficult to read.
Family life and properties
Marriage and children
In June , Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith, whom he had met the previous autumn in Louisville. "Peggy" Smith came from a prominent family of Maryland planters—her father was Major Walter Smith, who had served in the Revolutionary War.
The couple had six children:
- Ann Mackall Taylor (–),[17] married Robert C. Wood, a U.S. Army surgeon at Fort Snelling, in Their son John Taylor Wood served in the U.S. Navy and the Confederate Navy. Wood was the father of:
- Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor (–),[17] married Jefferson Davis in , a subordinate officer she had met through her father at the end of the Black Hawk War; she died at 21 of malaria in St.
Francisville, Louisiana, three months after her marriage.
- Octavia Pannell Taylor (–),[17] died in early childhood.
- Margaret Smith Taylor (–),[17] died in infancy along with Octavia when the Taylor family was stricken with a "bilious fever."
- Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Taylor (–),[17] married William Wallace Smith Bliss in (he died in ); married Philip Pendleton Dandridge in [22]
- Richard Taylor (–),[17] a Confederate Army general; married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier in [24]
Properties and slaveholdings
After their marriage, Taylor and his wife bought a dilapidated cottage in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which they finished remodeling shortly before the War of broke out.
Around the same time, he began to purchase a good deal of bank stock in Louisville. He also began to buy land on the Mississippi River, including properties in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and Wilkinson County, Mississippi, which proved to be profitable investments. From the mids,[29] he maintained Baton Rouge as his primary residence and family home, though he was frequently away on military duties.
From to he moved his family to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to be closer to his military posting.
In April , Taylor bought the Cypress Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi, acquiring the 1,acre (&#;ha) property and its 81 slaves for $95, (equivalent to $3,, in ). By the time of his death in there were slaves on the property, although the Anti-Slavery Reporter reported at the time that Taylor owned at least slaves.[31] Despite being in one of the state's most productive cotton-growing regions, Cypress Grove failed to turn a profit for Taylor, due to low cotton prices, frequent flooding, poor weather, and difficulties with pests.
Taylor and his manager, Thomas Ringgold, attempted to make the property self-sufficient, also selling timber to defray costs and building an extensive system of levees and floodgates. He remained an absentee owner even during peacetime and his wife apparently never visited the property. He appointed his son Richard as co-manager.
Military career
Initial commissions
After serving briefly in the Kentucky militia in ,[33][34] Taylor joined the U.S.
Army on May 3, ; receiving a commission from President Thomas Jefferson as a first lieutenant of the Kentuckian Seventh Infantry Regiment.[9][35] He was among the new officers Congress commissioned in response to the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, in which the crew of a British Royal Navy warship had boarded a United States Navy frigate, sparking calls for war.
Taylor spent much of in the dilapidated camps of New Orleans and nearby Terre aux Boeufs, in the Territory of Orleans. Under James Wilkinson's command, the soldiers at Terre aux Boeufs suffered greatly from disease and lack of supplies, and Taylor was given an extended leave, returning to Louisville to recover.
Taylor was promoted to captain in November In July he was called to the Indiana Territory, where he assumed control of Fort Knox after the commandant fled.
Within a few weeks, he had restored order in the garrison, for which he was lauded by Governor William Henry Harrison. Taylor was temporarily called to Washington, D.C., to testify for Wilkinson as a witness in a court-martial, and so did not take part in the November Battle of Tippecanoe against the forces of Tecumseh, a Shawneechief.
War of
During the War of , in which U.S.
forces battled the British Empire and its Indian allies, Taylor defended Fort Harrison in Indiana Territory from an Indian attack commanded by Tecumseh. The September battle was the American forces' first land victory of the war, for which Taylor received wide praise, as well as a brevet (temporary) promotion to the rank of major.
According to historian John Eisenhower, this was the first brevet awarded in U.S. history. Later that year, Taylor joined General Samuel Hopkins as an aide on two expeditions—one into the Illinois Territory and one to the Tippecanoe battle site, where they were forced to retreat in the Battle of Wild Cat Creek.
Taylor moved his family to Fort Knox after the violence subsided.
In the spring of , Taylor was called back into action under Brigadier General Benjamin Howard, and after Howard fell sick, Taylor led a man expedition from St. Louis, up the Mississippi River. In the Battle of Credit Island, Taylor defeated Indian forces, but retreated after the Indians were joined by their British allies.
That October he supervised the construction of Fort Johnson near present-day Warsaw, Illinois, the last toehold of the U.S. Army in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Upon Howard's death a few weeks later, Taylor was ordered to abandon the fort and retreat to St. Louis.
Reduced to the rank of captain when the war ended in , he resigned from the army. He reentered it a year later after gaining a commission as a major.
Command of Fort Howard
Taylor commanded Fort Howard at the Green Bay, Michigan Territory settlement for two years, then returned to Louisville and his family.
In April he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and dined with President James Monroe and General Andrew Jackson. In late , Taylor took the 7th Infantry to Natchitoches, Louisiana, on the Red River. He subsequently established Fort Selden at the confluence of the Sulphur River and the Red River. On the orders of General Edmund P.
Gaines, he later found a new post more convenient to the Sabine River frontier. By March , Taylor had established Fort Jesup at the Shield's Spring site southwest of Natchitoches.
That November (), Taylor was transferred to Baton Rouge[52] on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where he remained until February He spent the next few years on recruiting duty.
In late , he was called to Washington, D.C., for work on an Army committee to consolidate and improve military organization. In the meantime he acquired his first Louisiana plantation and decided to move with his family to a new home in Baton Rouge.
Black Hawk War
In May , Taylor was called back to action, commanding Fort Snelling in Michigan Territory (now Minnesota) on the Upper Mississippi River for a year, and then nearby Fort Crawford for a year.
After some time on furlough, spent expanding his landholdings, Taylor was promoted to colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment in April , when the Black Hawk War was beginning in the West. Taylor campaigned under General Henry Atkinson to pursue and later defend against Chief Black Hawk's forces throughout the summer. The end of the war in August signaled the final Indian resistance to U.S.
expansion in the area.
During this period, Taylor opposed the courtship of his year-old daughter Sarah Knox Taylor with Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, the future President of the Confederate States of America. He respected Davis but did not wish his daughter to become a military wife, as he knew it was a hard life for families.
Davis and Sarah Taylor married in June (when she was 21), but she died three months later of malaria contracted on a visit to Davis's sister's home in St. Francisville, Louisiana.
Second Seminole War
By , the Second Seminole War was underway when Taylor was directed to Florida. He built Fort Gardiner and Fort Basinger as supply depots and communication centers in support of Major General Thomas S.
Jesup's campaign to penetrate deep into Seminole territory with large forces and trap the Seminoles and their allies in order to force them to fight or surrender. He engaged in battle with the Seminole Indians in the Christmas Day Battle of Lake Okeechobee, among the largest U.S.–Indian battles of the 19th century; as a result, he was promoted to brigadier general.
In May , Jesup stepped down and placed Taylor in command of all American troops in Florida, a position he held for two years—his reputation as a military leader was growing and he became known as "Old Rough and Ready." Taylor was criticized for using bloodhounds in order to track Seminole.[31]
After his long-requested relief was granted, Taylor spent a comfortable year touring the nation with his family and meeting with military leaders.
During this period, he began to be interested in politics and corresponded with President William Henry Harrison. He was made commander of the Second Department of the Army's Western Division in May The sizable territory ran from the Mississippi River westward, south of the 37th parallel north. Stationed in Arkansas, Taylor enjoyed several uneventful years, spending as much time attending to his land speculation as to military matters.
Mexican–American War
Main article: Mexican–American War
In anticipation of the annexation of the Republic of Texas, which had established independence in , Taylor was sent in April to Fort Jesup in Louisiana, and ordered to guard against attempts by Mexico to reclaim the territory.
More senior generals in the army might have taken this important command, such as Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines. But both were known members of the Whig Party, and Taylor's apolitical reputation and friendly relations with Andrew Jackson made him the choice of President James K. Polk. Polk directed him to deploy into disputed territory in Texas, "on or near the Rio Grande" near Mexico.
Taylor chose a spot at Corpus Christi, and his Army of Occupation encamped there until the following spring in anticipation of a Mexican attack.
When Polk's attempts to negotiate with Mexico failed, Taylor's men advanced to the Rio Grande in March , and war appeared imminent. Violence broke out several weeks later, when Mexican forces attacked some of Captain Seth B.
Thornton's men north of the river. Learning of the Thornton Affair, Polk told Congress in May that a war between Mexico and the U.S. had begun.
That same month, Taylor commanded American forces at the Battle of Palo Alto and the nearby Battle of Resaca de la Palma. Though greatly outnumbered, he defeated the Mexican "Army of the North" commanded by General Mariano Arista, and forced the troops back across the Rio Grande.
Taylor was later praised for his humane treatment of the wounded Mexican soldiers before the prisoner exchange with Arista, giving them the same care as was given to American wounded. After tending to the wounded, he performed the last rites for the dead of both the American and Mexican soldiers killed during the battle.[76]
These victories made him a popular hero, and in May Taylor received a brevet promotion to major general and a formal commendation from Congress.
In June, he was promoted to the full rank of major general. The national press compared him to George Washington and Andrew Jackson, both generals who had ascended to the presidency, but Taylor denied any interest in running for office. "Such an idea never entered my head," he remarked in a letter, "nor is it likely to enter the head of any sane person."
After crossing the Rio Grande, in September Taylor inflicted heavy casualties upon the Mexicans at the Battle of Monterrey, and captured that city in three days, despite its impregnable repute.
Taylor was criticized for signing a "liberal" truce rather than pressing for a large-scale surrender. Polk had hoped that the occupation of Northern Mexico would induce the Mexicans to sell Alta California and New Mexico, but the Mexicans remained unwilling to part with so much territory.
General zachary taylor biography Breadcrumb U. Archived from the original on May 25, Taylor was also the second president to die in office, preceded by William Henry Harrison , who died while serving as president nine years earlier. Retrieved December 21,Polk sent an army under the command of Winfield Scott to besiege Veracruz, an important Mexican port city, while Taylor was ordered to remain near Monterrey. Many of Taylor's experienced soldiers were placed under Scott's command, leaving Taylor with a smaller and less effective force. Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna intercepted a letter from Scott about Taylor's smaller force, and he moved north, intent on destroying Taylor's force before confronting Scott's army.
Learning of Santa Anna's approach, and refusing to retreat despite the Mexican army's greater numbers, Taylor established a strong defensive position near the town of Saltillo.
Santa Anna attacked Taylor with 20, men at the Battle of Buena Vista in February , leaving around Americans dead or wounded at a cost of over 1, Mexican casualties.[b] Outmatched, the Mexican forces retreated, ensuring a "far-reaching" victory for the Americans.
In recognition of his victory at Buena Vista, on July 4, , Taylor was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, the Virginia branch of which included his father as a charter member.
Taylor also was made a member of the Aztec Club of , Military Society of the Mexican War.[89] He received three Congressional Gold Medals for his service in the Mexican-American War and remains the only person to have received the medal three times.[90]
Taylor remained at Monterrey until late November , when he set sail for home.
While he spent the following year in command of the Army's entire western division, his active military career was effectively over. In December he received a hero's welcome in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, setting the stage for the presidential election.
Ulysses S. Grant served under Taylor in this war and said of his style of leadership: "A better army, man for man, probably never faced an enemy than the one commanded by General Taylor in the earliest two engagements of the Mexican War."
General Taylor was not an officer to trouble the administration much with his demands but was inclined to do the best he could with the means given to him.
He felt his responsibility as going no further. If he had thought that he was sent to perform an impossibility with the means given him, he would probably have informed the authorities of his opinion and left them to determine what should be done. If the judgment was against him he would have gone on and done the best he could with the means at hand without parading his grievance before the public.
Millard fillmore biography Archived PDF from the original on November 13, On November 7, , the first time the entire nation voted on the same day, Taylor and Fillmore narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket, headed by Michigan's Lewis Cass, and the ticket of the Free-Soil Party, led by former President Martin Van Buren. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. William Ballard Preston —No soldier could face either danger or responsibility more calmly than he. These are qualities more rarely found than genius or physical courage. General Taylor never made any great show or parade, either of uniform or retinue. In dress he was possibly too plain, rarely wearing anything in the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer; but he was known to every soldier in his army, and was respected by all.[93]
Dates of rank
| Insignia | Rank | Component | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Lieutenant | Regular Army | May 3, | |
| Captain | Regular Army | November 30, | |
| BrevetMajor | Regular Army | September 5, | |
| Major | Regular Army | May 15, | |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Regular Army | April 20, | |
| Colonel | Regular Army | April 4, | |
| BrevetBrigadier-General | Regular Army | December 25, | |
| BrevetMajor General | Regular Army | May 28, | |
| Major General | Regular Army | June 29, |
Note - Major General Taylor resigned his commission in the U.S.
Army on January 31, , shortly before he became president.[94]
Election of
Main article: United States presidential election
In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never publicly revealed his political beliefs before nor voted before that time.[95] He was apolitical and had a negative opinion of most politicians.
He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that President Andrew Jackson should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in [95] He believed it was impractical to expand slavery into the Western United States, as neither cotton nor sugar (both produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a plantation economy.[95] He was also a firm American nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, believed that secession was a bad way to resolve national problems.[95]
Well before the American victory at Buena Vista, political clubs formed that supported Taylor for president.
His support was drawn from an unusually broad assortment of political bands, including Whigs and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, allies and opponents of national leaders such as Polk and Henry Clay. By late , Taylor's opposition to a presidential run had weakened, and it became clear that his principles resembled Whig orthodoxy.
Taylor despised both Polk and his policies, while the Whigs were considering nominating another war hero for the presidency after the success of its previous winning nominee, William Henry Harrison, in
As support for Taylor's candidacy grew, he continued to keep his distance from both parties, but made clear that he would have voted for Whig Henry Clay in had he voted.
In a widely publicized September letter, Taylor stated his positions on several issues. He did not favor chartering another national bank, favored a low tariff, and believed that the president should play no role in making laws. Taylor did believe that the president could veto laws, but only when they were clearly unconstitutional.
Many southerners believed that Taylor supported slavery and its expansion into the new territory absorbed from Mexico, and some were angered when Taylor suggested that if elected president he would not veto the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed against such an expansion.[95] This position did not enhance his support from activist antislavery elements in the Northern United States, as they wanted Taylor to speak out strongly in support of the Proviso, not simply fail to veto it.[95] Most abolitionists did not support Taylor, since he was a slave-owner.[95]
In February , Taylor again announced that he would not accept either party's presidential nomination.
His reluctance to identify himself as a Whig nearly cost him the party's presidential nomination, but Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky and other supporters finally convinced Taylor to declare himself a Whig.
Zachary taylor biography summary organizers The Commonwealth of Kentucky donated two adjacent parcels of land for the project, turning the half-acre Taylor family cemetery into 16 acres 65, m 2. Henry Clay John M. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang Retrieved June 5,Though Clay retained a strong following among the Whigs, Whig leaders like William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln were eager to support a war hero who could replicate the success of the party's only other successful presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison.
At the Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Clay and Winfield Scott for the presidential nomination.
For its vice-presidential nominee the convention chose Millard Fillmore, a prominent New York Whig who had chaired the House Ways and Means Committee and been a contender for the vice-presidential nominee in the election. Fillmore's selection was largely an attempt at reconciliation with northern Whigs, who were furious at the nomination of a slave-owning southerner; no faction of the party was satisfied with the final ticket.
It was initially unclear whether Taylor would accept the nomination because he did not respond to the letters notifying him of the convention's outcome, because he had instructed his local post office not to deliver his mail to avoid postage fees.[] Taylor continued to minimize his role in the campaign, preferring not to directly meet with voters or correspond about his political views.
He did little active campaigning, and may not have voted.[] His campaign was skillfully directed by Crittenden and bolstered by a late endorsement from Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
Democrats were even less unified than the Whigs, as former Democratic President Martin Van Buren broke from the party and led the anti-slavery Free Soil Party's ticket.
Van Buren won the support of many Democrats and Whigs who opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, but he took more votes from Democratic nominee Lewis Cass in the crucial state of New York.
Nationally, Taylor defeated Cass and Van Buren, taking of the electoral votes. In the popular vote, he took %, to Cass's % and Van Buren's %.
Taylor ignored the Whig platform, as historian Michael F. Holt explains:
Taylor was equally indifferent to programs Whigs had long considered vital.
President zachary taylor biography: Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House. He knew as a child that he wanted a military career. See also Tecumseh's War Kentucky portal. Washington McKinley T.Publicly, he was artfully ambiguous, refusing to answer questions about his views on banking, the tariff, and internal improvements. Privately, he was more forthright. The idea of a national bank "is dead, and will not be revived in my time." In the future the tariff "will be increased only for revenue"; in other words, Whig hopes of restoring the protective tariff of were vain.
There would never again be surplus federal funds from public land sales to distribute to the states, and internal improvements "will go on in spite of presidential vetoes." In a few words, that is, Taylor pronounced an epitaph for the entire Whig economic program.[]
"Taylor administration" redirects here.
For the Liberian government led by President Charles G. Taylor, see Charles G. Taylor §&#;Presidency.
Transition
As president-elect, Taylor kept his distance from Washington, not resigning his Western Division command until late January He spent the months following the election formulating his cabinet selections.
He was deliberate and quiet about his decisions, to the frustration of his fellow Whigs. While he despised patronage and political games, he endured a flurry of advances from office-seekers looking to play a role in his administration.
While he would appoint no Democrats, Taylor wanted his cabinet to reflect the nation's diverse interests, and so apportioned the seats geographically.
Zachary taylor facts Hamilton, Holman John Gayle. Archived from the original on April 1, Category List.He also avoided choosing prominent Whigs, sidestepping such obvious selections as Clay. He saw Crittenden as a cornerstone of his administration, offering him the crucial seat of Secretary of State, but Crittenden insisted on serving out the governorship of Kentucky to which he had just been elected. Taylor settled on Senator John M.
Clayton of Delaware, a close associate of Crittenden's.
With Clayton's aid, Taylor chose the six remaining members of his cabinet. One of the incoming Congress's first actions would be to establish the Department of the Interior, so Taylor would be appointing that department's inaugural secretary. Thomas Ewing, who had previously served as a senator from Ohio and as Secretary of the Treasury under William Henry Harrison, accepted the patronage-rich position of Secretary of the Interior.
For the position of Postmaster General, also a center of patronage, Taylor chose Congressman Jacob Collamer of Vermont.
After Horace Binney refused appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, Taylor chose another prominent Philadelphian, William M. Meredith. George W. Crawford, a former governor of Georgia, accepted the position of Secretary of War, while Congressman William B.
Preston of Virginia became Secretary of the Navy. Senator Reverdy Johnson of Maryland accepted appointment as Attorney General, and became one of the most influential members of Taylor's cabinet. Fillmore was not in favor with Taylor, and was largely sidelined throughout Taylor's presidency.
Taylor began his trek to Washington in late January, a journey rife with bad weather, delays, injuries, sickness—and an abduction by a family friend.
Taylor finally arrived in the nation's capital on February 24 and soon met with the outgoing President Polk. Polk held a low opinion of Taylor, privately deeming him "without political information" and "wholly unqualified for the station" of president. Taylor spent the next week meeting with political elites, some of whom were unimpressed with his appearance and demeanor.
With less than two weeks until his inauguration, he met with Clayton and hastily finalized his cabinet.
Inauguration
Main article: Inauguration of Zachary Taylor
Taylor's term as president began on Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the next day out of religious concerns.[c] His inauguration speech discussed the many tasks facing the nation, but presented a governing style of deference to Congress and sectional compromise instead of assertive executive action.
His speech also emphasized the importance of following President Washington's precedent in avoiding entangling alliances