Another day, another obscure 19th century president. But, thankfully, Zachary Taylor, who may have died from eating too many cherries, was born on November 24, 1784 (thankfully, because I couldn’t find another stamp in my late father’s collection that is plausibly connected to today). Taylor, who served for only 16 months before unexpectedly dying in office, is pictured on a 12-cent stamp issued in 1938.
Taylor came from a wealthy slaveholding family that owned about two dozen slaves and about 10,000 acres in Kentucky. He was a fearless, career soldier who fought and commanded in major actions starting with battles in the War of 1812. Jealous fellow generals mocked his lack of learning and polish-he seldom wore his uniform and was often mistaken for a farmer-but no less than Abraham Lincoln praised the steady judgment that enabled him to overcome unfavorable odds in numerous battles.
In 1845, Texas was granted statehood. Mexico disputed lands along the new state’s border, and President James Polk ordered Taylor and his troops into the contested area, a deployment that ignited the Mexican-American War. After winning two decisive encounters, Taylor, facing overwhelming odds, triumphed in a battle against the Mexican General Santa Anna at Buena Vista. When the smoke cleared, Taylor’s army of 6,000 had defeated a Mexican force of 20,000, and Zachary Taylor, “Old Rough and Ready,” as he was known because of his willingness to share his troops’ hardships, was a national hero.
Taylor had never publicly revealed his political beliefs before 1848. In fact, he had never even voted before then. Although he owned slaves, he believed it was impractical to expand slavery into the western areas of the U.S., as neither cotton nor sugar, crops that relied on slave labor, could be easily grown there. He was also a firm nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, he believed that secession was not a good way to resolve national problems.
Because of his fame, leading Democrats and Whigs both wanted him to be their party’s candidate for president. In the end, he announced that he was a Whig and the party nominated him, adding New York’s Millard Fillmore to the ticket to appease those who opposed the nomination of a slave owner and doubted Taylor’s commitment to the Whig Party. On November 7, 1848, the first time the entire nation voted on the same day, Taylor and Fillmore narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket, headed by Michigan’s Lewis Cass, and the ticket of the Free-Soil Party, led by former President Martin Van Buren.
Slavery, which had been the key issue of the campaign, proved to be the central challenge of Taylor’s brief presidency, particularly the question of whether slavery should be allowed in the new western territories. Taylor believed that the people of California-in which he hoped to include the Mormons around Salt Lake-and New Mexico should be allowed to decide for themselves whether or not to permit slavery by writing constitutions and applying immediately for statehood. Many in the South, however, feared that the addition of two free states would upset the delicate North-South balance in the Senate. Some southern Democrats called for a secession convention, and Taylor’s reaction was a bristling statement that he would hang anyone who tried to disrupt the Union by force or by conspiracy. In this heated atmosphere, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and others began to cobble together a compromise in the Senate. Taylor, however, was not part of these discussions because he believed the president should be above party politics, which mean that he should not engage directly with Congress or to pull together a functional coalition. But he also made it clear that he disagreed with some aspects of the compromise plan and was likely to veto it if it passed Congress.
He didn’t get the chance because, on a scorching July 4, 1850, Taylor attended festivities on the grounds that had been set aside for the proposed Washington Monument. He supposedly gulped down a large quantity of cherries and iced milk and then returned to the White House, where he quenched his thirst with several glasses of water. Over the next several days, he became increasingly ill with an unknown digestive ailment, most likely cholera from bacteria that might have been present in the water or milk. However, some people have claimed that Taylor died of gastroenteritis caused by the highly acidic cherries combined with fresh milk while other suspected food poisoning or typhoid fever.
His condition worsened and on July 8, Taylor remarked to a medical attendant: “I should not be surprised if this were to terminate in my death. I did not expect to encounter what has beset me since my elevation to the Presidency. God knows I have endeavored to fulfill what I conceived to be an honest duty. But I have been mistaken. My motives have been misconstrued, and my feelings most grossly outraged.”
Taylor died the next day and more than 100,000 people lined the funeral route. Fillmore, who succeeded him, agreed to what became known as the Compromise of 1850, which included several provisions that Taylor had opposed, notably leaving open the possibility of admitting more slave states from land gained from the Mexican-American War and a much stronger Fugitive Slave Act.
Taylor is generally considered one of America’s lesser presidents, because, in the words of a US News and World Report article explaining why he was on their list of the worst presidents, “Taylor was more a forgettable president than a failed one. And the reason is simple: The 12th president was probably the least politically attuned man to occupy the White House in American history, ignorant, one might say, to the point of innocence.”
Be well, stay safe, don’t overindulge in cherries or cold milk, fight for justice, and work for peace.