Zachary+Talor

Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia in the year of 1784. At a young age, he was taken to Kentucky and was raised on a plantation. As an adult, he was an officer in the Army. He lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and became a plantation owner in Mississippi. Zachary Taylor was policing frontiers against Indians for 25 years. He won many important victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista during the Mexican War. He was in the Army for 40 years, which made him a strong nationalist. His unusually long term in the Army seemed to appeal to the Northerners. The fact that he owned no slaves also seemed to influence the Southerners to view him favorably. The Whigs picked him to run against a Democrat named, Lewis Cass, who was in favor of letting the residents of certain territories make their own decisions regarding slavery. Property owners could decide whether or not they wanted slavery, when the new state constitutions were written. To stop the quarrels over slavery in new areas, Zachary Taylor told the people in New Mexico and California to pass constitution and apply for statehood. It was the hope of the people to avoid the territorial stage altogether. People from the south were extremely angry, since no state constitution was going to allow slavery. Some members of congress were depressed, because the President was assuming their policy-making rights. Zachary Taylor’s solution disregarded many other issues, such as: the northern disliking of the slave market running in the District of Columbia and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law. In February 1850, Taylor had held a heated conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that he would enforce the laws if he had to. He also said that he would be the one to lead them. Later on, he took place in ceremonies at The Washington Monument on July 4th, 1850. Five days later, he became ill and died.
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