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.
Zachary
Taylor