Zachary Taylor and the Sectional Crisis
In 1848, Americans turned to a war hero when they chose their next president. Zachary Taylor earned fame and national respect for being the victorious general in a number of battles in the Mexican-American War. Both parties courted Taylor to be their candidate. Taylor had never been politically active, and no one knew whether he was a Whig or a Democrat. According to some sources, he had never even voted before. As a good soldier, Taylor had been content to serve whatever government was in power. But as the election approached, Taylor decided that he was a Whig and he was selected as their candidate for President, much to the consternation of Henry Clay, who had his own eyes on that prize. Taylor won the Whig Party nomination and the Presidency. His prize was a problem that threatened to split the nation in two.
When Taylor took office, the burning question facing Congress was what would happen to all of the land that had been acquired by the United States as a result of the Mexican War, and specifically whether, and in what party of the newly acquired land, slavery would be allowed. The land had been divided into military districts, but it was unclear which districts would apply to become states and which would become federal territories. The question of their slave status threatened to bitterly divide Congress. Some had assumed that because Taylor was both a southerner and a slave-owner, he would be sympathetic to the southern perspective, but this turned out not to be the case. Taylor saw his main goals to be maintaining sectional peace, and preserving the Union through some sort of legislative compromise. As the threat of Southern secession grew, Taylor took his counsel from many antislavery northerners, including Senator William H. Seward of New York.
Taylor became convinced that the best option was to admit California as a state rather than a federal territory. This would then leave the slavery question out of Congress's hands. The timing for statehood was right because the California Gold Rush was well underway at the time of his inauguration, and California's population was exploding. Taylor sent Thomas Butler King to California, to investigate the matter and to advocate for California statehood, especially after learning that Californians were almost certain to adopt an anti-slavery constitution. When King arrived, he discovered that a constitutional convention was already underway, and by October 1849, the convention unanimously agreed to join the Union—and to ban slavery within their borders.
The next area of concern was the area west of Texas, where present day New Mexico is. This area was largeley unsettled at the time of Taylor's inauguration. This territory was under federal jurisdiction, but the Texans claimed a swath of land north of Santa Fe and were determined to include it within their borders, despite having no real presence there. But the local New Mexicans wanted the land to remain as a federal territory. Taylor supported statehood for this area so as to further reduce the slavery debate in Congress.
The area where modern day Utah lies had been settled by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. They had established a provisional "State of Deseret". Taylor considered combining the California and Utah territories, but instead he decided to organize the Utah Territory. To alleviate the Mormon population's concerns over religious freedom, Taylor promised they would have relative independence from Congress despite being a federal territory.
In his only State of the Union report to Congress in December 1849, Taylor reported on California's and New Mexico's applications for statehood, and recommended that Congress approve them as written and "should abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of a sectional character". But Southern legislators saw the admission of two free states as a threat to the balance of power, and Congress remained stalled on the issue.
On January 21, 1850, President Taylor sent a message to Congress urging the admission of California immediately and New Mexico later, and that the Supreme Court settle the boundary dispute whereby the state of Texas claimed much of what is now the state of New Mexico. Henry Clay, with assistance from Daniel Webster, developed a proposal that became known as the Compromise of 1850. The proposal allowed statehood for California, giving it independence on the slavery question, while the other territories would remain under federal jurisdiction. Slavery would remain in the District of Columbia, but the slave trade would be banned. A strict Fugitive Slave Law would be enacted, that would be paramount over northern legislation which had restricted Southerners from retrieving runaway slaves. Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, but in May of 1850, his Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, after hearing weeks of debate, told Taylor that if senators divided equally on the bill, he would cast his tie-breaking vote in favor.
Tensions continued to build in Congress as negotiations continued and talk of secession reared its ugly head. Emulating something that Andrew Jackson had done during the nullification crisis, Taylor threatened to send troops into New Mexico to protect its border from Texas, with himself leading the army. He said that anyone "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang" with less reluctance than Taylor had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico. This compromise failed to pass due to the factions being too far apart.
Clay's efforts to bring about a compromise had taken a toll on his health. He urged Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois to take the proposals contained in Clay's bill and to divide them into several smaller bills, and pass each separately. By this time, Clay was suffering from tuberculosis and left Congress to try to recuperate in Newport, Rhode Island. Clay was unable to guide the congressional debate any further. Clay's omnibus bill was defeated in Congress on July 31, 1850.
But earlier that month, Zachary Taylor had died. On July 4, 1850, Taylor had attended a fund-raising event at the Washington Monument, which was then under construction. Over the course of the next several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment. His doctor diagnosed the illness as cholera morbus. Fever ensued and on July 9, 1850, Taylor died at 10:35 p.m. He was 65 years old. After his death, Vice President Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed Taylor's term.
Remarkably, though Taylor was a southerner born in Virginia with a home in Kentucky, and Fillmore was a northerner from New York, it was the latter who was more open to some of the concessions in the compromise designed to appease southerners. Stephen Douglas broke up the Omnibus bill into individual bills that could be passed piecemeal. Fillmore endorsed this strategy, and he sent a special message to Congress on August 6, 1850, urging Congress to defuse sectional tensions by passing the Compromise. Each bill passed in the Senate. The battle then moved to the House, which had a Northern majority because of population. Most contentious was the Fugitive Slave Bill. Fillmore pressured Northern Whigs to abstain rather than oppose. Various changes were made, including the setting of a boundary between New Mexico Territory and Texas. California was admitted as a free state, the District slave trade was ended, and the final status of slavery in New Mexico and Utah would be settled later. Fillmore signed the bills as they reached his desk, holding the Fugitive Slave Bill for two days until he received a favorable opinion as to its constitutionality from the new Attorney General, John J. Crittenden.
It is unclear whether or not things would have ended differently had Taylor lived out his term and specifically whether or not he would have exercised his veto or approved the compromise. Some conspiracy theorists, including former University of Florida professor Clara Rising, have suggested that Taylor may have been poisoned with arsenic because southerners feared that he would tip the balance of power on the slavery question in favor of the north. An autopsy of Taylor's exhumed body conducted in June of 1991 failed to support that theory.
When Taylor took office, the burning question facing Congress was what would happen to all of the land that had been acquired by the United States as a result of the Mexican War, and specifically whether, and in what party of the newly acquired land, slavery would be allowed. The land had been divided into military districts, but it was unclear which districts would apply to become states and which would become federal territories. The question of their slave status threatened to bitterly divide Congress. Some had assumed that because Taylor was both a southerner and a slave-owner, he would be sympathetic to the southern perspective, but this turned out not to be the case. Taylor saw his main goals to be maintaining sectional peace, and preserving the Union through some sort of legislative compromise. As the threat of Southern secession grew, Taylor took his counsel from many antislavery northerners, including Senator William H. Seward of New York.
Taylor became convinced that the best option was to admit California as a state rather than a federal territory. This would then leave the slavery question out of Congress's hands. The timing for statehood was right because the California Gold Rush was well underway at the time of his inauguration, and California's population was exploding. Taylor sent Thomas Butler King to California, to investigate the matter and to advocate for California statehood, especially after learning that Californians were almost certain to adopt an anti-slavery constitution. When King arrived, he discovered that a constitutional convention was already underway, and by October 1849, the convention unanimously agreed to join the Union—and to ban slavery within their borders.
The next area of concern was the area west of Texas, where present day New Mexico is. This area was largeley unsettled at the time of Taylor's inauguration. This territory was under federal jurisdiction, but the Texans claimed a swath of land north of Santa Fe and were determined to include it within their borders, despite having no real presence there. But the local New Mexicans wanted the land to remain as a federal territory. Taylor supported statehood for this area so as to further reduce the slavery debate in Congress.
The area where modern day Utah lies had been settled by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. They had established a provisional "State of Deseret". Taylor considered combining the California and Utah territories, but instead he decided to organize the Utah Territory. To alleviate the Mormon population's concerns over religious freedom, Taylor promised they would have relative independence from Congress despite being a federal territory.
In his only State of the Union report to Congress in December 1849, Taylor reported on California's and New Mexico's applications for statehood, and recommended that Congress approve them as written and "should abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of a sectional character". But Southern legislators saw the admission of two free states as a threat to the balance of power, and Congress remained stalled on the issue.
On January 21, 1850, President Taylor sent a message to Congress urging the admission of California immediately and New Mexico later, and that the Supreme Court settle the boundary dispute whereby the state of Texas claimed much of what is now the state of New Mexico. Henry Clay, with assistance from Daniel Webster, developed a proposal that became known as the Compromise of 1850. The proposal allowed statehood for California, giving it independence on the slavery question, while the other territories would remain under federal jurisdiction. Slavery would remain in the District of Columbia, but the slave trade would be banned. A strict Fugitive Slave Law would be enacted, that would be paramount over northern legislation which had restricted Southerners from retrieving runaway slaves. Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, but in May of 1850, his Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, after hearing weeks of debate, told Taylor that if senators divided equally on the bill, he would cast his tie-breaking vote in favor.
Tensions continued to build in Congress as negotiations continued and talk of secession reared its ugly head. Emulating something that Andrew Jackson had done during the nullification crisis, Taylor threatened to send troops into New Mexico to protect its border from Texas, with himself leading the army. He said that anyone "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang" with less reluctance than Taylor had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico. This compromise failed to pass due to the factions being too far apart.
Clay's efforts to bring about a compromise had taken a toll on his health. He urged Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois to take the proposals contained in Clay's bill and to divide them into several smaller bills, and pass each separately. By this time, Clay was suffering from tuberculosis and left Congress to try to recuperate in Newport, Rhode Island. Clay was unable to guide the congressional debate any further. Clay's omnibus bill was defeated in Congress on July 31, 1850.
But earlier that month, Zachary Taylor had died. On July 4, 1850, Taylor had attended a fund-raising event at the Washington Monument, which was then under construction. Over the course of the next several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment. His doctor diagnosed the illness as cholera morbus. Fever ensued and on July 9, 1850, Taylor died at 10:35 p.m. He was 65 years old. After his death, Vice President Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed Taylor's term.
Remarkably, though Taylor was a southerner born in Virginia with a home in Kentucky, and Fillmore was a northerner from New York, it was the latter who was more open to some of the concessions in the compromise designed to appease southerners. Stephen Douglas broke up the Omnibus bill into individual bills that could be passed piecemeal. Fillmore endorsed this strategy, and he sent a special message to Congress on August 6, 1850, urging Congress to defuse sectional tensions by passing the Compromise. Each bill passed in the Senate. The battle then moved to the House, which had a Northern majority because of population. Most contentious was the Fugitive Slave Bill. Fillmore pressured Northern Whigs to abstain rather than oppose. Various changes were made, including the setting of a boundary between New Mexico Territory and Texas. California was admitted as a free state, the District slave trade was ended, and the final status of slavery in New Mexico and Utah would be settled later. Fillmore signed the bills as they reached his desk, holding the Fugitive Slave Bill for two days until he received a favorable opinion as to its constitutionality from the new Attorney General, John J. Crittenden.
It is unclear whether or not things would have ended differently had Taylor lived out his term and specifically whether or not he would have exercised his veto or approved the compromise. Some conspiracy theorists, including former University of Florida professor Clara Rising, have suggested that Taylor may have been poisoned with arsenic because southerners feared that he would tip the balance of power on the slavery question in favor of the north. An autopsy of Taylor's exhumed body conducted in June of 1991 failed to support that theory.