1849: Taylor

Zachary Taylor, Whig from Louisiana, beats Michigan Democrat Lewis Cass by 5% of the popular vote in the election of 1848.

Invites Free States to Join the Union

Taylor believes free white men in every state should be able to vote to decide whether slavery should be allowed where they live. Taylor, himself, holds 144 Blacks captive as slaves on his Louisiana plantation. Even so, he encourages the territories of California and New Mexico to join the United States, even though neither of them is likely to allow slavery. This makes other slavers angry because if California and New Mexico join the United States as free states, the United States would have more free states than states where slavery was legal.

Says He Will Kill Southern Rebels

When some Southerners start talking about dividing the United States into two countries--one where slavery is legal and another where it is not--Taylor says that if anyone attempts to divid the United States into two parts, he will take control of the army and have those people killed as traitors.

Taylor remains in office until 1850, when he dies of cholera.