Zachary Taylor: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Line 274:

Tensions flared as Congress negotiated and secession talks grew, culminating with a threat from Taylor to send troops into New Mexico to protect its border from Texas, with himself leading the army. The crisis escalated after delegates in New Mexico proposed a new state constitution that would have banned slavery and [[Peter Hansborough Bell]] won the [[1849 Texas gubernatorial election]] on a pledge to order a militia invasion of New Mexico.<ref name=":2">{{Harvp|Cohen|2019|p=68-69}}</ref> Southern senators accused Taylor of secretly sending the U.S. Army to New Mexico; Taylor denied the allegations but emphasized that he would like to. He also said that anyone "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/zachary-taylor/|title=Zachary Taylor|work=whitehouse.gov|access-date=February 21, 2015}}</ref>

The omnibus law was a major step forward on these issues but ultimately could not pass, due to [[radicalismRadical politics|radicals]] on both sides and Taylor's opposition.{{sfn|Bauer|1985|pages=301-312}} At this point, Taylor began to receive disapproval from even his own political allies. Secretary of War Crawford warned Taylor he would not approve a military deployment to New Mexico, although Taylor said he would give the order himself. Taylor's close advisors [[Robert Toombs]] and [[Alexander H. Stephens|Alexander Stephens]], both [[Southern Whig Party (United States)|Southern Whigs]] who later served as officials in the Confederate government, warned him that his rhetoric on New Mexico would drive Southerners out of the party.<ref name=":2" />

No great compromise reached Taylor's desk during his presidency; instead, his last days were overshadowed by the [[Galphin affair]]. Before joining the Taylor cabinet, Crawford had served as a lawyer. He had been involved in a 15-year case, representing the descendants of a colonial trader whose services to the British crown had not been repaid at the time of the American Revolution. The British debt to George Galphin was to be assumed by the federal government, but Galphin's heirs received payment on the debt's principal only after years of litigation, and were unable to win an interest payment from the Polk administration.{{sfn|Bauer|1985|pages=312-313}}