were friendly to the Wilmot Proviso
formed the Free Soil party in 1848, to which also the Abolitionists
naturally attached themselves. The regular Whigs and Democrats refused
to support the Wilmot Proviso, through fear of alienating the South. The
Free Soilers named as their nominees Martin Van Buren, for President,
and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President; the
Democrats selected Louis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William
O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President; the Whig candidates were
General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard
Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. At the electoral vote Zachary
Taylor was elected President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President.

CHAPTER XIV.

ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR, FILLMORE, PIERCE, AND BUCHANAN, 1849-1857.

Zachary Taylor--The "Irrepressible Conflict" in Congress--The Omnibus
Bill--Death of President Taylor--Millard Fillmore--Death of the Old
Leaders and Debut of the New--The Census of 1850--Surveys for a Railway
to the Pacific--Presidential Election of 1852--Franklin Pierce--Death of
Vice-President King--A Commercial Treaty Made with Japan--Filibustering
Expeditions--The Ostend Manifesto--The "Know Nothing" Party--The Kansas
Nebraska Bill and Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

[Illustration: ZACHARY TAYLOR.

(1784-1850.) One partial term, 1849-1850.]

General Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States, was born
at Orange Court-House, Virginia, September 24, 1784, but, while an
infant, his parents removed to Kentucky. His school education was
slight, but he possessed fine military instincts and developed into one
of the best of soldiers. His services in the war of 1812 and in that
with Mexico have been told in their proper place. His defense of Fort
Harrison, on the Wabash, during the last war with England, won him the
title of major by brevet, that being the first time the honor was
conferred in the American army.

No man could have been less a politician than "Old Rough and Ready," for
he had not cast a vote in forty years. Daniel Webster characterized him
as an "ignorant frontier colonel," and did not conceal his disgust over
his nomination by the great party of which the New England orator was
the leader. It was Taylor's brilliant services in Mexico, that made him
popular above all others with the masses, who are the ones that make
and unmake presidents. Besides, a great