Zachary Taylor: The Man Who Might Have Prevented the Civil War
He was a slave owner who opposed the expansion of slavery; a president who despised politics and politicians. That was Zachary Taylor—“Old Rough and Ready.” Joseph Fornieri, Professor of Political Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, tells the story of this walking contradiction.
Script:
Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was so indifferent to politics that he never voted until his own election in 1848.
A career military man, “Old Rough and Ready,” as he was affectionately known, was weathered, stocky, and bow-legged in appearance. He was obstinate, easily insulted, and quick-tempered in character. These are not traits that usually make for a successful politician. But then again, he never wanted to be a politician. Until he did.
The son of a Revolutionary War veteran, Zachary Taylor was born in Orange County, Virginia on November 24, 1784. Inspired by his father’s military exploits, Taylor joined the army in 1808. He spent the bulk of the next forty years protecting the frontier against hostile Indians. Steadily rising from the rank of lieutenant to brigadier general, he fought in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War of 1832, and the Second Seminole War in 1837.
The Mexican-American War in 1846 was a turning point in Taylor’s life. In a matter of months, he went from a respected but obscure soldier to a national hero.
Here’s how it happened.
In January of 1846, President James Polk sent Taylor into the disputed border territory of Texas and Mexico. The idea was that the presence of American troops would pressure the Mexican government into accepting Polk’s offer to buy California. But Mexico wasn’t interested.
So, Polk was stuck.
Things became unstuck when Mexican forces fired on Taylor’s men near the town of Palo Alto, killing 11. That’s all Polk needed to ask Congress to declare war, which it did on May 12.
At that moment, the war rested on Taylor’s shoulders. Despite being vastly outnumbered, he won the battle of Palo Alto and went on to score impressive victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista. Ulysses S. Grant, a recent West Point graduate, who took part in the campaign said of Taylor: “No soldier could face either danger or responsibility more calmly than he… He was known to every soldier in his army, and was respected by all.”
The Mexican War ended in February 1848 with the US acquiring not only California but vast swaths of land in the American Southwest. Within weeks of the end of the war, the Whig Party, which had done so well with war hero William Henry Harrison, saw Taylor as their ticket back to the White House.
Taylor was intrigued, but he didn’t see himself as a party man. “I am a Whig, but not an ultra Whig,” he said. “If elected I would not be the mere President of a party—I would endeavor to act independent of party….”
That was good enough for the Whigs. In short order, they nominated Taylor to be their standard bearer. He went on to defeat Lewis Cass, a Democratic senator from Michigan, in the general election.
Being a war general was hard. But being President was harder.
For one thing, the Mexican-American War had reignited the slavery debate. How would all this new territory be integrated into the Union? What part would be slave; what part would be free?
The political balance stood precariously at 15 free states and 15 slave states. Any additional states would tip the scales one way or the other. How would this be resolved?
For the full script, visit: https://l.prageru.com/3LvHRZ7
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It was not a matter of bridging the gap between North and South, but rather making a clear decision on the slavery issue from a position of strength. Zachary Taylor's decision was to curb the peculiar institution's westward spread. After that was accomplished, slavery could be dealt with little by little, namely reformed to death.
The real question now becomes, would the abolitionists have made good use of the strong position Taylor had given them? Frankly, I am not sure.
a civil war would have probably almost certainly have happened if Taylor lived or not.Slavery was too big an issue to go away
Slavery had to end at some point. He would have only delayed the inevitable at best.
I love learning anything new about US history. Than you very much.
Also fun fact his son in law was Jeff Davis who he hated and resented after the death of his daughter.
They say Grants leadership style was modeled after Taylor.
the context banner is actually kinda funny because it references zachery taylor's wiki page and i'm not super educated in paper writing and references but i do know the basic rule of not using wiki as a reference because it itself is a reference tool, its not a direct source.
interesting…. Z Taylor is actually ( from what my mother has mentioned countless times) a relative of mine
So he massacred Indians and Mexicans, charming. I see why conservatives might like him😂 Guess it's good he opposed the slave act. But it's also hilarious you announce to talk alternative history, just to bluntly state you can't say shit.
I am a not a member of political organization, I am a Republican.
Interesting.
President Taylor Zachary was strong president , if he had lived he would have united both South & north. 🇺🇲🦅
Can you finally talk about the uniparty, if you won't you will just show your true collars and who you serve.
The Talmud is a long list of justifications for wickedness. So long as specific conditions are met the Talmud justifies all wicked actions. Jews agree that a Jew killing another Jew is wicked. So how can a Jew believe holiness & unholiness are subjective to society & the individual like Jewish Marxists believe? They know what evil is based on what isn't permitted against other Jews. Even the Marxist Jews don't kill their own kind. They can justify every wickedness against gentiles but does this justification come from god or somewhere else? So where does good and evil come from according to the Jew is my question? Does it come from god or is it subjective to society and the individual? From the standpoint of a Jew the answer needs to be both at the same time. It's subjective because their religion says so but it's also from god because they love their own people. They're hypocrites for this reason. If you say "that's only a radical sect of Judaism". I'll ask you if that "radical sect" harms their own people. If the answer is "No", then good and evil is subjective & also from god at the same time. They know the difference between good and evil but they choose to do evil against other groups. No Jew is born with the ability to distinguish that his people are superior and have the right to harm anybody else. But they are born with the ability to distinguish the difference between right and wrong. When a Jew promotes multi-culture in another country, and promotes fascism in Israel, is he in line with god or is he a hypocrite? If you took a Jewish baby and raised him in the hands of a Christian family would he have a hatred for the Jews simply because he was raised Christian? Would he have only a love for Christian people? I think the answer is he wouldn't have a hatred for Jewish people unless instructed & I think he would naturally understand that the world is filled with good & bad people regardless of their affiliations. For the Talmud to condemn all gentiles as sub-human cattle is wrong. That's not a good direction for the Jewish people to take in the future. Not all gentiles are evil but their are evil gentiles. I believe institutions are more evil than people. When you see a wicked gentile not only does he harm other groups but he also harms his own people. When you see a wicked Jew like a Bolshevik he only harms gentiles. At least the evil Gentile isn't a hypocrite he's just evil. Are some people just born bad? Yes, their are some people born with no understanding of holiness. We call those the children of Satan. I would say theirs a disproportionate amount of those types born into Jewish groups based on historical documents of Jewish atrocities. The only moral value you can teach these people is "only harm people outside your group." and that's not even a moral value it's a subjective satanic value. When Jews promote evil gentiles like Mitt Romney for the purpose of destroying other gentiles, it's the fault of good Jews who taught the bad ones fake moral values. Does a good Jew exist or are they just hypocrites using bad Jews for their dirty work?
War wasn't about slaves
YEAH JOE!!!!!
s/o my step dad for narrating
Joey, I'm posting this on behalf of your godmother and me!! We are just BLOWN AWAY with how WELL DONE this is!! I need you to teach me EVERYTHING!! It's just illustrated so BEAUTIFULLY and CLEARLY!! Thank you for sharing this… Your godmother wants you to know her heart is bursting with pride over you and your GREAT knowledge and character!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
There’s no way that Taylor could’ve prevented the civil war. It was inevitable, and all he could do was either postponed it or make it start sooner.
Doesn't sound like Zachary Taylor really achieved anything as president.
5 minutes of my life wasted….title had NO BEARING with the end conclusion “guess we’ll probably never know..”..shijit
Honestly by the 1850s no one could have avoided the civil war. As long as one half was dependent on slavery and the other half was vehemently opposed to it no compromise could really solve the issue
Also, there was a compromise in 1861 that would've prevented the war which was for Lincoln to hand over two forts which had zero strategic value to the U.S. government. Almost his entire cabinet advised him to do this, and the Confederate government had agreed to purchase the forts as well as pay off the Southern States portion of the U.S. national debt.
If Taylor opposed all compromises, how would he have prevented the War Between the States? Not following you here PragerU. I think it's worth mentioning that Taylor's son, Richard, fought for the Confederacy, and his former son-in-law, Jefferson Davis, became the Confederate president.
You fail to mention that "Clay's" proposals, together known as the Compromise of 1850, passed in September after Taylor died. Taylor, had he lived, could just as easily precipitated a civil war.
Hmmm? I REAAAAALLLYY dislike when the history is only half told, Come On PragerU, you should know better. You bring up Grant but fail to mention Lee….Why? Lee had more to do with getting California and the other states than either Zackary or Grant. Why?……Because it changes the narrative, that Lee died a Confederate rather than a bigger player in American History. Either way an interesting topic.
In short…No…With explanation: The absolute best Taylor could have done was kick the can down the line a few years. He was still a slave owner and a large scale slave owner at that. He was the Whigs attempt to get their own Andrew Jackson, which the original was nothing to be boastful of to tell you the truth.
YT is so petty with its so-called "context" boxes.
Very interesting!
Interesting.
Zachary Taylor
Some historians believe that slavery was eventually going to fall out of practice without the Civil War.
He might have delayed secession and yet further, the war. But I believe that divine providence put Lincoln in place at the right time.
Zachary Taylor was the second cousin of James Madison. Can you see the family resemblance?
The Civil War was a godsend. All the bloodshed that happened was just deserts for all the horrors that White Americans perpetrated on black people and native Americans.
YouTube trying to correct the truth again! LOL
While the literal truth about what Taylor would have done had he lived longer is that we will never know, we certainly know what the Democrats would do since they did it. Once a Republican President was elected, Democrats ransacked the treasury, sold off war materiel, seceded from the Union and declared war on the United States to protect & defend slavery. The Democrat Party was born to oppose abolition, and went on to wage Jim Crow on Blacks after being humiliated in the Civil War. Lincoln wasn't even a hard core abolitionist; his platform was to make peace with slavery where it existed. But he realized after a time at war with Democrats, you can't make peace with evil. And Democrats killed him (and tried to neuter his administration) for his contributions to human freedom. Abraham, Martin & John.
Zachery Taylor has one of the best presidential quotes I’ve ever heard. “Stop your nonsense and drink your whiskey.”
What did he 'die suddenly' of?
Wasted 5 minutes to learn absolutely nothing of a new perspective
The Civil War was inevitable. The slavery issue was never going to be resolved peacefully, to judge from all the compromises and balancing acts of the time.
Should have let Mexico keep California.
I doubt very much f Taylor could have found a compromise between Free Soilers and Slavers.
This man is literally my greatx4 grandfather as confirmed by my great uncle …
12th, 24 April 2023
Hostile Indians? That's a nice way to put it