#12: Taylor, Zachary

Zachary Taylor
November 24, 1784 (Barboursville, Virginia) - July 9, 1850 (the White House!)

• Zachary Taylor "served his country for 40 years as a soldier and for 16 months as President": he fought in the War of 1812, was promoted to Major, then sent to Florida in 1837 to fight the Seminole Indians, and in 1846 he went to the Rio Grande with thousands of troops to fight in the Mexican War, then was elected prez in 1849. He died in office in 1850 and was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
• Zachary grew up on "the dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky's frontier. No schools, some tutors. He "gained much practical knowledge by working on his father's farm."
  
• Taylor won the presidency on the Whig party ticket. During the campaign, neither the Democrats nor the Whigs talked about the slavery issue--only the Free Soil Party led by former president Martin Van Buren campaigned on it.
• Under Taylor's presidency, debates over slavery heated up and came close to bringing about civil war. Southerners demanded compromise before California could be admitted to the union. Taylor refused and as a result California was not admitted until Fillmore succeeded to the presidency.
• Mrs. Taylor did not like the fact that her husband ran for President. "She viewed it as a plot to deprive her of his company." She did not participate in social life at the White House, so hostess duties passed to her daughter Betty.
  

I also learned that a Tayra (TY ruh) "is a large member of the weasel family. It lives in tropical forests from Mexico to Argentina. . . . Tayras wander through the forests . . . eat birds, small mammals, and fruits."