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Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9,
1850), also known as "Old Rough and Ready," was
the twelfth President of the United
States|President of the United States, serving
from 1849 to 1850. Taylor was noted for his
extensive military career, becoming the first
president not previously elected to any other
public office. He was the second president to die
in office.

==Biography==
Taylor was born in a log cabin to Richard Taylor
and Sarah Strother, near Barboursville, Virginia,
though his family was aristocratic. As an infant
he and his family moved to Kentucky, where Taylor
grew up on a plantation and was known as "Little
Zack." Taylor and Margaret Mackall Smith met in
early 1810 and were married on June 21, 1812. They
had one son and five daughters, two of whom died
in infancy.

In 1808, Taylor joined the United States Army|U.S.
Army and was Commissioned officer|commissioned as
a first lieutenant. Soon afterward he was ordered
west into Indiana Territory, taking command of
battle of Fort Harrison|Fort Harrison. In the War
of 1812 (1812–1815), he became known as an
excellent military commander. Taylor was also
noted for standing 5'8" or 5'9" tall and weighing
between 170 and 200 pounds, with long arms, short,
stubby legs and a thick torso. It is believed that
Taylor sometimes needed to be boosted into his
saddle.

Taylor also served in the Black Hawk War (1832)
and the Seminole Wars|Second Seminole War
(1835–1842). During the Seminole War he
gained the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" after
the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.

President James K. Polk sent an army under his
command to the Rio Grande in 1846. When the
Mexico|Mexicans attacked Taylor's troops, Taylor
defeated them despite being outnumbered 4-to-1.
Polk later declared war; in the Mexican-American
War that followed, Taylor won additional important
victories at Battle of Monterrey|Monterrey and
Battle of Buena Vista|Buena Vista and became a
national hero. 

Polk kept Taylor in northern Mexico, disturbed by
his informal habits of command and his affiliation
with the United States Whig Party|Whig Party. He
sent an expedition under General 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 Moctezuma
II|Montezuma, that others might revel in them."

==Presidency==


He received the United States Whig Party|Whig
nomination for President in 1848, although he had
never even bothered to vote before. His homespun
ways were political assets, his long military
record would appeal to northerners, and his
ownership of slaves would attract southern votes.
He also had not previously committed himself on
troublesome issues. He ran against the Democratic
candidate, Lewis Cass, who favored letting the
residents of territories decide for themselves
whether they wanted slavery. In protest against
Taylor, a slaveholder, and Cass, an advocate of
"squatter sovereignty," northerners who opposed
extension of slavery into territories, formed the
Free Soil Party and nominated Martin Van Buren. In
a close election, the Free Soilers pulled enough
votes away from Cass to elect Taylor. 

Taylor earned a footnote in Presidential history
before he even took office. His term of service
was scheduled to begin at noon on March 4, 1849,
but it being a Sunday, Taylor refused to be sworn
in until the following day. Vice President of the
United States|Vice President Millard Fillmore was
also not sworn in on that day. As a result, it is
claimed that the nation technically had no
President or Vice President for one day. Some
people postulate that David Rice Atchison, the
previous President pro tempore of the United
States Senate|President Pro Tempore of the Senate,
was technically Acting President, but this
statement is rejected by virtually every
constitutional scholar. Constitutionally, Taylor's
term began at noon on March 4, regardless of
whether he had taken the oath or not.



Although Taylor had subscribed to United States
Whig Party|Whig principles of legislative
leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of
Whig leaders in Congress of the United
States|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 Native American|Indians. 

Under Taylor´s administration the United States
Department of the Interior was organized, although
the Department had been activated under President
Polk´s last day in office.

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. 



After participating in ceremonies at the
Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, 1850,
Taylor fell ill with acute indigestion and was
diagnosed by his physicians with cholera morbus.
He died five days later, after just 16 months in
office. He is buried in Louisville, Kentucky.
Taylor was succeeded by his Vice President of the
United States|vice president, Millard Fillmore.

It is widely held that the cause of Taylor's death
was put to rest in the early 1990s when Taylor's
remains were exhumation|exhumed and examined
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/
ansside6.html for arsenic poisoning. However
critics point out the cause of death remains
unknown, despite frequent reporting in the media
otherwise. Scientists determined the levels of
arsenic from hair and nail samples. A medical
examiner then concluded that the amount of arsenic
found in the samples was not sufficient to be
fatal but "the symptoms which he exhibited and the
rapidity of his death are clearly consistent with
acute arsenic poisoning."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0872863573/
photobinbook-20/002-9587828-8001612 Taylor had
eaten a large quantity of iced milk and cherries
on the hot day prior to falling ill, one of which
may have been contaminated, and which likely led
to a still-extant old wives' tale stating that
milk and cherries become toxic when consumed
together.

Taylor's son Richard became a Confederate
Lieutenant-General, while his daughter Sarah Knox
Taylor married Jefferson Davis. Taylor's brother,
Joseph Pannill Taylor, was a Brigadier General in
the Grand Army of the Republic during the American
Civil War|Civil War.

===Cabinet===
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4"
style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;"
align="left"
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|OFFICE||align="left"|NAME||align="le
ft"|TERM
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|President of the United
States|President||align="left" |Zachary
Taylor||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|Vice President of the United
States|Vice President||align="left"|Millard
Fillmore||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
State|Secretary of State||align="left"|John M.
Clayton||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Treasury|Secretary of the
Treasury||align="left"|William M. Meredith|William
Meredith||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
War|Secretary of War||align="left"|George Walker
Crawford|George
Crawford||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|Attorney General of the United
States|Attorney General||align="left"|Reverdy
Johnson||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|Postmaster General of the United
States|Postmaster General||align="left"|Jacob
Collamer||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Navy|Secretary of the Navy||align="left"|William
Preston||align="left"|1849–1850
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Interior|Secretary of the
Interior||align="left"|Thomas
Ewing||align="left"|1849–1850
|}



==External links==
*http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/zt12
.html White House Biography
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/taylor.html 
Zachary Taylor State of the Union Address
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/taylor.h
tml Inaugural Address of Zachary Taylor

==References==
wikisource author
*Bauer, Jack K. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter,
Statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State
University Press: 1993. ISBN 0807118516 
*Smith, Elbert B. The Presidencies of Zachary
Taylor and Millard Fillmore. University Press of
Kansas: 1988. ISBN 070060362X. 

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Party|Whig Party President of the United
States|Presidential :