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12th President · Whig
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Served: March 4, 1849 — July 9, 1850
- Lived
- November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850
- Home State
- Louisiana
- Party
- Whig
- Vice President
- Millard Fillmore
Zachary Taylor was a career Army officer who won the presidency as a Whig in 1848 after victories at Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Buena Vista in the Mexican–American War. A slaveholder from Louisiana, he surprised the South by opposing the extension of slavery into the western territories and threatening to lead federal troops against secessionists. He died suddenly in July 1850 after only sixteen months in office, and his death allowed Millard Fillmore to sign the Compromise of 1850, including the Fugitive Slave Act. Forty years in the U.S. Army; commander at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Buena Vista in the Mexican–American War.
No formal higher education.
As a slaveholder from Louisiana, surprised the South by opposing the extension of slavery into the western territories and threatening to lead federal troops personally against secession. None of national significance.
Owned enslaved people. Died suddenly of a gastrointestinal illness after five days of illness; conspiracy theories about poisoning have been repeatedly debunked.
Had Taylor lived, the Compromise of 1850 might not have passed in its final form; his death gave Fillmore, a Northerner, the authority to sign the deal — including the Fugitive Slave Act — into law.