Zachary Taylor

HIS EARLY LIFE

• He was born on November 24, 1784, near Barboursville, Virginia
• He grew up in Kentucky
• His family had a large amount of property, and about 30 slaves
• In 1810, he married Margaret Taylor
• He was commander of the garrison at Fort Pickering

TAYLOR'S POLITICAL VIEWS

• He was a strong nationalist
• Taylor encouraged New Mexico and California to apply for statehood
• He also wanted to protect Native Americans land from white settlers
• Both political parties agreed with some of Taylor's views

EXPANSION

• After the war with Mexico, the US was left with a large amount of property
• This property included what is now California, New Mexico, and Utah
• Taylor strongly supported expansion
• He traveled to the west coast to look at the new land
• Taylor also fought in the war to obtain the land

VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

• Taylor believed that the governments main job was to keep the country whole
• He believed in slavery but didn't address the topic while he was in office
• He did not agree with many of the Democratic Party's views
• He used his status as a war hero to try to appeal to voters
• The previous president (Polk) did not think that Taylor was qualified

FIRST PERSON SOURCE

• This is a correspondence between Taylor and his cousin
• The letter was written less than a month before Taylor died
• From this letter, we were able to infer that he was well-liked as a president
• Also, sickness was common during the time

PORTRAYALS

• The first is a political cartoon when Taylor was running for president
• The second is a portrait by James Reid Lambdin

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MAP OF ELECTION RESULTS

THE RESULTS OF

FUN FACTS

• Taylor was the last American president to represent the Whig party
• His predecessor's term ended on a Saturday, and his didn't start until the following Monday!
• Tay
• He ate bad cherries on July 4th, 1850, and died less than two weeks later
• There are many theories that Taylor was murdered