Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) spent four decades in the U.S. Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War and the Second Seminole War before winning national fame at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and Buena Vista in the war with Mexico. He owned plantations worked by enslaved people, had never voted before 1848 and ran that year as the Whig nominee without a platform. As president he urged that California and New Mexico be admitted directly as states, with their residents deciding on slavery, an approach that angered Southern Whigs. He died in July 1850, during the debate that produced the Compromise of 1850.

Taylor's presidency was brief, and historians debate what it would have meant had he lived. Admirers point to his firm stand for the Union and argue that his plan to admit California and New Mexico directly might have avoided some of the bitterness of the Compromise of 1850, including its harsh fugitive slave law. Others note that his refusal to compromise with Southern leaders risked a crisis over secession or a clash with Texas. Historians also note that his reluctance to lead Congress left him with little legislative record. His wealth rested on the labor of the people he enslaved, and his military career included campaigns against the Sauk and the Seminole that were part of the removal of Native nations from their lands.