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Audio Book Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849-1850 with FREE MOBI EDITION Download Now!
The rough-hewn general who rose to the nation's highest office, and whose presidency witnessed the first political skirmishes that would lead to the Civil WarZachary Taylor was a soldier's soldier, a man who lived up to his nickname, "Old Rough and Ready." Having risen through the ranks of the U.S. Army, he achieved his greatest success in the Mexican War, propelling him to the nation's highest office in the election of 1848. He was the first man to have been elected president without having held a lower political office.John S. D. Eisenhower, the son of another soldier-president, shows how Taylor rose to the presidency, where he confronted the most contentious political issue of his age: slavery. The political storm reached a crescendo in 1849, when California, newly populated after the Gold Rush, applied for statehood with an anti- slavery constitution, an event that upset the delicate balance of slave and free states and pushed both sides to the brink. As the acrimonious debate intensified, Taylor stood his ground in favor of California's admission—despite being a slaveholder himself—but in July 1850 he unexpectedly took ill, and within a week he was dead. His truncated presidency had exposed the fateful rift that would soon tear the country apart.
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Audio Book Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849-1850 with FREE MOBI EDITION!
The office of President requires, or should require, a requisite amount of life experience, preferably overflowing with examples of successful leadership. Tragically, those who meet such criteria often have advanced in age enough to make an untimely passing a stark, and very real, possibility. The risk increased exponentially in the nineteenth century with its shorter life expectancy and intriguing medical procedures. Surprisingly, so far only three U.S. presidents have died of so-called "natural causes" during their terms. Had James Polk run again and won a second term, he probably would have increased that number to four, since he died only three months after leaving the White House. William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, still provides the extreme example, hopefully never outdone, of passing away only a month after taking office. Just as tragically, James Garfield, the twentieth president, arguably died from an infection brought on by medical carelessness following an assassination attempt. His term lasted just over six months. Next in line comes Zachary Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," who died just sixteen months after assuming the presidency and a mere nine years following Harrison's death. Such brief time spans don't allow for many meaningful accomplishments. Sadly, Taylor has met the same fate as Harrison and Garfield: to remain in presidential memory mostly for serving the shortest time in office. Though Taylor's pre-presidential career consisted of numerous military victories, many people today may encounter his name only after consulting presidential term length lists. The 1846 to 1848 Mexican War, from which Taylor emerged as a national icon, has not remained in popular memory into the twenty-first century for various reasons. That and Taylor's very short presidency have largely confined him to the realm of the historically curious. Not only that, he also had the historical misfortune to serve between some of the lowest ranking, and most forgotten, presidents in US history. Names such as Tyler, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan evoke little to no inspiration, or even recognition, today. The twelfth volume of "The American Presidents Series" characterizes Taylor as an inevitably "underrated" president who provokes poignant "what if" scenarios, such as "would we have had to endure Pierce had Taylor lived?" or even, according to a conversation related by the book's author, could Taylor have prevented the Civil War? No one will ever know, of course, but speculation will likely persist. Human beings like to speculate.Similar to other volumes of this series, the narrative delineates the president's entire life, not just time spent in the White House. In Taylor's case this becomes almost a necessity, but thankfully his life contained many other notable events. Born in Virginia in 1784, his family quickly moved to Kentucky to claim land that the United States rewarded to his father for service in the Revolution. Contrary to his often cited "disheveled appearance," Taylor came from, in the day's parlance, "gentleman" stock. Despite this, he didn't receive an extensive education. His almost lifelong military career began in 1808 as a recruiter and he nearly escaped early tragedy under the corrupt leadership of Wilkinson in New Orleans. Marriage came soon after in 1810 to Margaret Mackall Smith, followed by a daughter in 1811. While commanding Fort Knox in Kentucky in 1811, the book bemoans Taylor's missed "PR opportunity" of not fighting at Tippecanoe, the battle that brought William Henry Harrison to national, though some claimed questionable, prominence. More acclaim came Taylor's way during the War of 1812 at Fort Harrison when he routed an Indian invasion and saved the fort's precious storehouse from fire. This not only made the newspapers, but brought thanks from high-ranking officers and the Governor. To top it off, President Madison made Taylor the first ever brevet major, a distinct honor at the time. After commanding numerous battalions, by 1814 he thought he deserved a promotion and after some politicking he attained the rank of major in 1815, but then the war ended, and along with it his promotion. Though the army kept him on, he dropped to captain due to cutbacks. Frustrated, he returned to Kentucky, where he grew tired of farming and returned to the military as a major in 1816 and found himself promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1819. No one would have considered him presidential material as he accompanied President Monroe and Andrew Jackson on a westward journey in that same year. Definitely no one could know that that same entourage included two future presidents.Disaster struck in 1820 when two of Taylor's children died. He remained on the frontier for the following decade, but managed to see a few glimpses of Washington D.C. politics while sitting on various military boards. While serving during the 1832 Black Hawk War, which Taylor considered "unnecessary," he began to distrust volunteer troops after they openly ignored his orders. Then Jefferson Davis courted Taylor's eldest daughter, Sarah, but Taylor didn't want her to marry into the military. Taylor persisted even after Davis resigned his post in 1835. The couple married anyway, but another tragedy struck when Sarah contracted malaria and died soon after the wedding. In 1837, the military called Taylor to Florida to command one of the now largely forgotten Seminole Wars. After some small victories, including a questionable one at Okeechobee, where both sides declared victory, Taylor stayed on longer than any of his predecessors had and he earned the title of brigadier general as well as his "Old Rough and Ready" moniker. He left Florida in 1840 and showed some interest in politics in 1841 by writing to his previous commander, William Henry Harrison, but Harrison's death closed off any potential political opportunities. Unknown to him, or anyone, at the time, his greatest opportunity arrived in 1845 when orders sent him to Fort Jessup in Louisiana. The outbreak of the very controversial Mexican War that followed would gradually vault Taylor to national attention and the Whig candidacy. Victories at Palo Alto, thanks in part to "flying artillery," Monterrey and Buena Vista, combined with General Winfield Scott's self-defeating lack of promotional skills, made Taylor the obvious presidential hopeful despite Scott's more lavish victories such as occupying Mexico City. The book contains voluminous detail on the war's major battles and controversies. Some accused Polk of manipulating the war into existence, resulting in a massive land grab from Mexico that, by 1848, extended the United States from Texas to California. The 1848 election also loomed and the Whigs sought a military hero to represent their party. They really had only one obvious choice.Taylor stated that he didn't have the vanity to consider himself qualified for the presidency. He even wrote some personal letters that openly pronounced his disinterest in the office. Worst of all, he didn't consider himself a Whig. Regardless, the Whigs thought they had their candidate and they persevered. A group of party faithful visited "Old Zack" and convinced him to write the first "Allison" letter in which he begrudgingly claimed loyalty to the Whig party. Perhaps his strange declaration that "I am a Whig but not an Ultra Whig" served as a kind of compromise? Taylor preferred to run as a representative of all people, but harsh political reality must have finally set in by the time of the Whig convention. Taylor of course won the nomination, but it took four ballots for him to reach a majority. Millard Fillmore joined him as potential Vice President, apparently with no protest whatsoever from the attendees. Taylor's wife wanted nothing to do with his campaign. She hoped feverishly that someone else would take his place. Her anxiety seems quite prescient in retrospect. Further drama ensued when Taylor still hadn't responded to his nomination letter after a month. Everyone exhaled in relief when it all came down to a flub at the Post Office. Martin Van Buren ran his final campaign under the third party "Free Soil" banner. Polk did not run again, as promised, and the Democrats nominated a military man, though not one anywhere near Taylor's stature. Despite that, the major candidates each won 15 states, but Taylor had more electoral votes, and he also won the popular vote. The issue of slavery still hovered ominously over the entire country, especially with new territories coming on board, yet, during the election, neither party showed any commitment either way on the volatile topic. When Taylor learned of his victory, he apparently didn't react at all and instead spoke stoically of "duty." His wife declared that, once in the White House, she would stay secluded upstairs. She did.After resigning from the army, as late as possible for monetary reasons, and choosing a "respectable but lackluster" cabinet, Taylor and Polk met for the first time in Washington D.C. for the transfer of power. Though each shared a fiery loathing for the other, a White House dinner apparently went off pleasantly without incident. Polk still considered Taylor "uneducated and ignorant of public affairs." Similarly, Taylor's inaugural contained anti-Polk sentiments. Sadly, President Taylor soon attended the funerals of both Polk and Dolley Madison. He coined the term "First Lady" at Madison's service, perhaps his most enduring presidential legacy. As office seekers and admirers crowded around him, he tried to get away to the north, but more crowds besieged him there as well. He also showed some disturbing signs of ill health during the trip. Debates over the status of slavery in the new territories heated up in Congress, but the people of California drew up their own constitution that declared it as a free territory. A bitterly divided Congress would have to approve it. The Gold Rush had also begun in 1848 and people flocked westward. Pro-slavery forces demanded a tougher Fugitive Slave Act, which the North abhorred, claiming that it made the entire region into a "slave patrol." Taylor himself had owned slaves most of his life, but he opposed the spread of slavery outside of the areas in which it already existed. Though he condemned the institution publicly, he never ceased from practicing it himself. His simultaneous holding of both of these positions made him a moderate in his day. No one would claim him a moderate over secession, especially after the firebrand governor of Texas threatened to do so over land claims in Santa Fe. Taylor quieted the whole affair with the blunt promise "I will hang you with less reluctance than I hanged deserters and spies in Mexico."Taylor did accomplish something in his short tenure, at least. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty calmed tensions, and arguably prevented a war, between the US and Britain. Taylor had announced the possible building of a canal in Nicaragua and Britain, who had claims in that area, pushed back. The treaty averted further conflict, but it also destroyed any hope of a Nicaraguan canal. Taylor signed the treaty, possibly his last official act, right before his death. As debates raged in Congress, Taylor found himself weighed down with the "Galpin Scandal," which involved his Secretary of War cashing in unethically on an enormous pre-revolution land claim. Taylor himself had done nothing wrong, but the scandal rocked his administration and caused him considerable angst. Then Taylor attended the laying of the cornerstone for the future Washington Monument, took a walk in the scorching heat, ate a lot of fruit, drank some milk and fell ill. Others he knew had a similar condition, but Taylor gradually grew so sick that he spoke of his own death and he did actually die a few days later. On his deathbed, he apparently said "I regret nothing." Taylor's wife remained so inconsolable that she attended none of the state services. Initially buried in Washington D.C., Taylor's wife had him reburied in Kentucky later in the year. No one really knows what killed Taylor, but his increasingly feeble health and the burdens of office probably also played significant roles. The book doesn't mention claims from other sources that doctors bled and blistered Taylor and gave him the entire Galenic treatment. If true, that likely deteriorated him further. He lived in medically dangerous times. Fillmore assumed office as the thirteenth president and signed The Compromise of 1850, which included a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, which some claim that Taylor would have vetoed. The nation then continued its dismal slide towards civil war. The next few presidencies certainly didn't help.The twelfth book of "The American Presidents Series" paints Taylor partially as a sad victim of fate. He definitely held plenty of promise, but an unforeseen death just got in the way. Not only that, but his personal papers disappeared during The Civil War, leaving a considerable historical gap. For these and other reasons, he will likely linger in the category of neglected and under-appreciated presidents and consequently ranked lower than he may have otherwise deserved. But anyone who reads this short and well-written book will know that his lesser stature doesn't arise from abject failure, but mostly from the usually uncontrollable vicissitudes of the unpredictable universe.
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