Zachary Taylor Research Paper

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Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784 in Barboursville, Virginia to Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor and Sarah Dabney Strother Taylor. He was taken to Kentucky to get raised on a plantation. He spent most of his childhood on that plantation alongside his two parents, seven brothers and sisters, and twenty-six slaves. Only sixteen years later his family owned more than 10,000 acres across Kentucky. Taylor never attending college, from a young age he knew wanted to be in the military. When he was 28 years old his first officer duty was as the commander at Fort Pickering, present day Memphis, TN. In 1810, Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith and had 6 children. They moved down to Louisiana where he commanded the Baton Rouge fort. Later after serving that same fort for many years he reached a high point as an “Indian …show more content…

He was very popular at the time with all his victories which earned him a spotlight for presidency. Although he identified himself as a nationalist, he was apart of the a Whig political group. Appealing to Southerners for owning slaves and Northerners for his long military career, his ability to become president was high. Just three years later in November of 1848 he won the election and became the nation’s 12th president, substituting the former president, James K. Polk. Taylor refused all postages and letters, because of that he didn’t receive notice of his nomination of presidency until several days later. He won by 100,000 more votes than Lewis Cass. While president he urged Western territories to engage into statehood and took on a anti-slavery standpoint. In doing so it angered Southerners into heated debates. Sadly only into 16-months of presidency Zachary Taylor died of severe stomach pains also known as cholera morbus. Although he made efforts to resolve slavery, he couldn’t avert the emerging Civil

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