today we're looking at president zachary taylor
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bell ringer videos zachary taylor was the
12th president of the united states from 1849 to 1850. taylor was officially a member of the
wig party but his personal political views were rather vague taylor was born november 24th 1784
near barboursville virginia on the plantation of his family
his father richard taylor had served as an officer during the american revolution and was with
the continental army at valley forge his mother sarah dabney taylor had married richard in 1779.
zachary was the third of nine children born to richard and sarah not long after zachary was born
his family relocated to kentucky settling near louisville on the ohio river zachary's education
was primarily done by his mother at home but there was times here and there that he attended school
from a young age he knew he wanted to serve in the military like his father in 1808 at about
the age of 24 taylor received a commission as a first lieutenant in the united states army
commanding fort pickering near memphis tennessee shortly after receiving this command taylor
married margaret mccall smith and together they would go on to have six children during the war
of 1812 taylor was in command of fort harrison in the indiana territory in september of 1812 taylor
successfully defended the fort against a native american attack commanded by tecumseh then in 1814
he helped lead an expedition up the mississippi river and defeated native american forces at the
battle of credit island near present-day rock island illinois after the war of 1812 taylor
moved his family to several military posts until in 1822 he relocated to baton rouge louisiana
there taylor purchased a plantation that would be his family's home in 1832 taylor took part in the
blackhawk war and then two years later in 1837 was active in the second seminole war in which he was
promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1846 he was placed in command of troops in texas ever
since texas had joined the union in 1845 there had been a dispute with mexico as to where the border
between texas and mexico was the united states argued that the border was at the rio grande but
mexico argued that it was much further north taylor was ordered by president james polk to
march troops into the disputed borderland region on april 25 1846 american troops were attacked
by the mexican army and the mexican-american war was now underway taylor would be promoted to the
rank of major general while winning victories in northern mexico at the battle of monterey
and buena vista taylor became a national hero with many comparing him to george washington
and andrew jackson the ultimate victory for the united states in the mexican-american war only
served to further zachary taylor's popularity soon talk began that taylor should run for president
interestingly taylor did not want to align himself with either the democrats or the whig party
instead he thought of himself as an independent on the major issue of the day slavery taylor argued
to not allow slavery to expand to new territories taylor was a slave owner himself but he did not
believe the major crops like cotton could be grown in the west therefore in his mind slavery wasn't
necessary there by 1848 taylor did align himself with the whig party taylor chose millard fillmore
from new york to be his running mate democratic president james k polk had chosen not to run for
re-election but the democrats running against taylor were split when former president martin
van buren broke from the democrats and ran for president on the free soil party ticket while
the democrats officially nominated lewis cass of michigan taylor was able to defeat both van buren
and cass by winning 47 percent of the popular vote and the electoral college taylor would be the last
president in u.s history elected that was not part of either the republican or democratic party as
taylor took office the main issue was how to deal with lands gained after the mexican-american war
taylor pushed for settlers in california and new mexico to go ahead and apply for statehood knowing
they would enter the union as free states in congress henry clay crafted the compromise of 1850
to attempt to give some concessions to the south if california enters as a free state and threw off
the balance between free and slave states taylor refused to support the compromise and insisted
california should enter without any compromise this angered southerners who threatened to secede
to which taylor responded that he would meet their threats with force on july 4 1850 taylor attended
a party at the washington monument to raise funds to complete the structure at the party taylor ate
a large amount of raw cherries and iced milk the following day taylor began to display symptoms
of a serious intestinal illness doctors soon diagnosed him with cholera his condition continued
to deteriorate until he died on july 9th of 1850 at the age of 65. vice president millard fillmore
assumed the office as the 13th president of the united states and soon signed the compromise
of 1850 acts into law so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you