X X XIII 
THE ADMINISTRATION OF ZACHARY TAYLOR 
AND MILLARD FILLMORE (1849-53) 
The study of slavery leads to the feeling that in this instance the mantle of charity cannot be 
00 broad : it needs to be stretched over both North and South, For all slave-owners were not 
eins: all antislaverv men were not enemies or wishers of evil to the South.— X. X, Chadwick. 
Introduction. —In the last two chapters we learned that be- 
:ween 1840 and 1850 the energies of the American people were 
bent chiefly upon acquiring new territory and developing and 
organizing new States. In 1850 the people were brought face to 
face with the slavery question, and for many years thereafter 
this great question held the chief place in their hearts and minds, 
In this chapter we shall study the institution of slavery as it 
existed in the United States sixty years ago, and shall learn of 
‘he effort which was made in 1850 to solve the slavery problem. 
203. The Election of 1848; Taylor and Fillmore.—In 1848 
it was plainly foreseen that the slavery question must soon arise, 
yet in the presidential campaign of that year neither of the great 
parties said a word about the subject. The Whigs said nothing 
about anything; they made no platform. They nominated 
General Zachary Taylor of Louisiana for President and Millard 
Fillmore of New York for Vice-President. Clay was in the 
race for the Whig nomination, but on the first ballot Taylor 
showed greater strength.! The Democrats made a long plat- 
form, but it was silent on the subject of slavery. They nomi- 
„ated for President Lewis Cass (p. 245) of Michigan. The 
Free-Soil party, made up of those Whigs and Democrats who 
were opposed to slavery, held a convention at Buffalo and 
aominated ex-President Van Buren for the Presidency. The 
Free-Soilers in their platform came out against slavery in the 
ı This was the fifth time Clay had come forward as a candidate for the 
Presidency. 
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