Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was the twelfth president of the United States. He was a Whig and a Mexican-American War hero who made his home in Louisiana. People called him Old Rough and Ready — a nickname that fit a tough, no-frills soldier who shared the hardships of camp with his men. The Whigs ran him in 1848, as they had run Harrison in 1840. He was a war hero, not a professional politician. He had been a career Army officer for most of his life and had never even voted in a presidential election before he became president.

Victories in Mexico, including Buena Vista, made him a national name — and then a president. He took office in 1849 and died in 1850 after about 16 months. He was president 1849–1850. His vice president, Millard Fillmore of New York, became president when Taylor died and finished the term. During Taylor's term, Gold Rush California wanted to enter the Union as a state. So many people had rushed west for gold that California applied for statehood right away.

Taylor opposed the easy spread of slavery into new western land. Southern Whigs expected a slaveholding general to help them. Instead he wanted to keep it a free state, not an easy win for spreading slavery — California, admitted without spreading slavery by default. He warned people who talked about breaking up the Union that he would treat them as rebels and hang them. He took a hard line: the Union would be held together. He let his old war horse, Whitey, graze on the White House lawn.