Ever since President Zachary Taylor died suddenly in 1850 after just 16 months in office, many have suspected foul play on the part of his political enemies.
Library of CongressPresident Zachary Taylor buy the farm suddenly , five days after attend a Fourth of July celebration in the Capitol .
President Zachary Taylor ’s dying on July 9th , 1850 shocked an uneasy Carry Amelia Moore Nation . In the year leading up to the Civil War , Taylor had been see as something of a compromise candidate . But he had a few enemies .
At the time , trivial suspicion cloud Taylor ’s death . Dr. chalk it up tocholera morbusafter the president consume cherry tree and iced milk during a Fourth of July celebration .
Library of CongressPresident Zachary Taylor died suddenly, five days after attending a Fourth of July celebration in the Capitol.
But the elevation of Taylor ’s frailty chairman , Millard Fillmore , precede some to question . What if the president had been poisoned so the vice chairman could take power ?
The question of Zachary Taylor ’s causal agent of end would reverberate through the old age until the 1990s , when Taylor was finally exhume and tested for arsenic toxic condition .
Zachary Taylor Takes Office In A Tense Nation
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor served in the military for four decennary and led troops in the War of 1812 , the Black Hawk War , and the second Seminole War before distinguishing himself with larger-than-life doings in the Mexican - American War .
As the land tip toward violence in the precarious pre - polite War years , Zachary Taylor emerged as something of a compromise candidate . For one , he was fairly apolitical . Taylor hadnever cast a voting in his life story . Secondly , most Americans knew Taylor as a torpedo of the Mexican - American War .
Taylor ’s service in the Mexican American War proved important . As Americans summon around “ Old Rough and Ready ” , they admire dissimilar thing about his candidacy .
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor served in the military for four decades and led troops in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the second Seminole War before distinguishing himself with heroic conduct in the Mexican-American War.
Southerners saw Taylor , a slave - owner from Kentucky , as one of their own . They considered American territorial gains during the state of war a mature opportunity to propagate the foundation of thrall .
But Northerners saw something else . They saw a military adult male — someone loyal to the Stars and Stripes .
In realness , Taylor was an independent . And , in fact , members of both partieshad considered him a potential presidential candidateas his victories in Mexico throng up .
Library of CongressZachary Taylor’s status as a war hero made him an attractive candidate for president, and he was considered by both parties.
Taylor himself noted that he ’d never harbored presidential ambitions . In 1846 , two years before his election , he statedthat becoming president : “ Never enter my head … nor is it likely to enter the headspring of any reasonable person . ”
Library of CongressZachary Taylor ’s position as a war hero made him an attractive prospect for president , and he was believe by both parties .
Taylor had no inviolable political leanings either elbow room ; but he did have a scotch to settle . He believe that James K. Polk , the popular chairman , had counteract him during a battle in Bueno Vista in society to mark political points . A drive birdsong written for Taylor included the lyrics :
Library of CongressA political cartoon from 1848 that depicts Zachary Taylor as an “available” candidate.
“ Polk thought when the war first beganHow grandhe’dbe in the storyHe little dream’d how Zack would riseAnd carry off the glory ! ”
Taylor came out as a Whig , albeit , an unenthusiastic one . In a purposely leak letter to his brother - in - constabulary , Taylor noted : “ I am a Whig , but not an extremist Whig . ”
The Whig neatly sidestepped the issue of slavery by presenting Taylor as a candidate “ without respect to credo or principles . ” Democrats aggress him as a phoney for possess slaves and sneered that he’dbeen nominate based“solely on the ground of his availability . ”
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor’s cause of death was listed by his doctors ascholera morbusbut some later suspected poisoning.
Library of CongressA political cartoon from 1848 that describe Zachary Taylor as an “ available ” candidate .
As president , Taylor made his posture more well - live . He threw his financial support behind the highly controversial Wilmot Proviso , which proposed banning slavery in the novel dominion acquire during the Mexican - American War .
Southerners were appal . Taylor met threats of secession with anger . He promised to extend the rush against any state that tried to will the Union , thundering in February of 1850 to a group of southern leader that anyone “ … in rebellion against the Union , I will cling with less reluctance than I used in hanging recreant and spies in Mexico . ”
Wikimedia CommonsThe death of Zachary Taylor, 1850.
These were torrid feeling in a fiery prison term . Taylor had only been in authority for just over a year , but he had started to make dangerous enemies .
The Strange And Sudden Death Of Zachary Taylor
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor ’s cause of demise was listed by his doctor ascholera morbusbut some later suspect poisoning .
On a hot 4th of July in 1850 , the president attended Independence Day festivity . He went and realize the fresh dedicate grounds for the upcoming Washington Monument and strolled along the Potomac .
During the twenty-four hours , Taylor reportedly wipe out cherries and iced milk . Upon generate to the White House , he felt athirst and drank several glasses of stale water .
Library of CongressMillard Fillmore, Taylor’s vice president, held office from 1850 to 1853.
By the next day , the president digest from fearsome tummy cramp iron . Taylor ate slivers of methamphetamine hydrochloride for alleviation as physician tried to salvage his pain . They gave him opium and calomel , and even tried bleed the unwellness out of the president .
Although Taylor momently amend — even feel well enough to indite several letters and ratify a bill — his condition soon deteriorated .
A few daytime later , the President of the United States called his married woman to his side . A soldier to the closing , Taylor told her : “ I have always done my duty , I am quick to die . My only regret is for the friends I entrust behind me . ”
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor’s mausoleum in Kentucky.
Wikimedia CommonsThe death of Zachary Taylor , 1850 .
He give-up the ghost on July 9th , 1850 . Zachary Taylor ’s doctors blamedcholera morbus , a term doctor used in those days to describe gastroenteritis — fervor of the gut due to bacteria , a virus , or a sponger . New Dr. believe Taylor became infected due to the poor sanitary condition in the capitol .
After Zachary Taylor ’s death , things began to change very apace . His vice president , Millard Fillmore , was depose in on July 10 , 1850 , one 24-hour interval after Taylor died .
Library of CongressMillard Fillmore , Taylor ’s frailty president , held agency from 1850 to 1853 .
Fillmore thrust his support to the most controversial issue of the mean solar day : a proposed law that would become the Compromise of 1850 . Taylorhad opposed the via media .
The law would make concessions to both the North and South , but it ’s most imperishable impact was the expanding upon of the Fugitive Slave Act . The new Act required all citizen to assist in the seizure of escaped hard worker and pop the question reward to Union commissioners for turning in distrust slaves .
So , in even less time than his short presidency had lasted , Taylor ’s workplace toward preventing the spread of slavery was all undone .
Exhuming Taylor In The 1990s
Wikimedia CommonsZachary Taylor ’s mausoleum in Kentucky .
Zachary Taylor ’s death remained an oddity of account for more than a 100 afterward . Most dismissed his premature and strange death as utter bad luck .
But not Dr. Clara Rising . A historical novelist and former humanities prof at the University of Florida , rise noticed that Taylor ’s symptoms seemed an eery match to arsenic toxic condition .
“ Right after his death , ” Rising take down , “ everything he had worked against came forward and was egest by both family of Congress . ” In Rising ’s opinion , Zachary Taylor could have had an enormous impact on American history . Had he lived , he could have prevent , stay , or “ somehow solved the problems ” that led to the Civil War , which die out 10 years later .
In coordination with a coroner and the Department of Veterans Affairs ( who oversee the graveyard where Taylor is buried ) , Rising won commendation to disinter the president in 1991 so that Taylor could be screen for arsenic .
Arsenic can last in the body for centuries . If someone had poison the president , the evidence could still be discovered .
The termination ? Zachary Taylor did examination for positive for arsenic — but only a small amount . If arsenic toxicant had killed the president , the levels would be200 or even thousands of time higher .
And thus , Zachary Taylor ’s death seems more likely the resultant of terrible fortune — not a sneaky bravo . And after his expiry , the nation preserve its steady Master of Architecture toward war .
After learning about the inscrutable death of President Zachary Taylor , read about otherstrange death of American frame . Or , dig into the story of thefirst presidential character assassination — that of Abraham Lincoln .
