Zachary Taylor

Ordered by president James Polk, General Taylor commanded the northern end of the Mexican-American War. After the annexation of Texas in 1845, Taylor was sent with troops to the Rio Grande, and 16 of his men were intercepted and killed by Mexicans. Enraged, Polk used this incident as grounds to send a war proclimation to Congress, which passed. Polk was determined to get western land from Mexico, but his attempts to buy the land was not met. Due to this failure, Polk used Taylor to spark a war over the land. Taylor was very successful in his battles with the Mexicans, and won many important victories, one example being the Battle of Palo Alto. Taylor was elected into office in 1848, despite the fact that his political beliefs were relatively unknown. Once in office, Taylor asserted his position as being a firm nationalist, due to his experiences in the Mexican-American War. Seeing many of his men killed by Mexicans made Taylor a firm believer in Manifest Destiny, te belief that western lan was God given to America, and it was their obligation and duty to control it. He alligned himself with the Whig Party, although he didn't plan to be made a puppet by the powerful Whig leaders in Congress. Even thoug he recieved votes from southern slave holders due to his ownership of slaves, he did not approve of slavery accompanying expansion into the west. This angered those who had voted for him, however, their anger was short lived. Taylor died just 16 months into his presidency, the third shortest amount of time in office.