VOA新闻杂志2023--Zachary Taylor: Brief

Zachary Taylor: Brief

VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

Today we are talking about Zachary Taylor, the 12th president. He took office in 1849.

Taylor had some things in common with earlier presidents.

Like six others before him, he was born in Virginia.

Like George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Taylor was a war hero.

And, like William Henry Harrison, he died in office.

But Taylor brought at least one special trait to the presidency¹. Although he was officially elected as a member of the Whig party, Taylor considered himself an independent.

Early life

When Zachary Taylor was a baby, his family left Virginia. They moved west, to a tobacco plantation² in Kentucky.

There, the Taylors were financially successful. By the time Zachary was a young man, his family owned a number of enslaved people and over 4,000 hectares of land.

Taylor took possession of some of his family's land. He also had cotton plantations³ in the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana. He, too, depended on enslaved people to do most of the work.

But Taylor was unlike many wealthy farmers in the South. He had always wanted to be a soldier. When Taylor was 24 years old, he became an officer in the U.S. Army.

Shortly after, he married Margaret Smith. In time, they had five daughters and one son. But Taylor directed most of his attention to his military career.

For about 20 years, he tried to keep peace between Native American tribes and white Americans. Sometimes the job meant leading attacks against Native Americans. At times, it meant defending their lands from white settlers.

In either case, his public standing⁴ as a good soldier grew. His troops called him "Old Rough and Ready" because he was willing to fight – and suffer – alongside them.

Then, in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, Taylor became really famous. He led U.S. troops to victory in several major battles, including ones at Monterrey and Buena Vista⁵.

In a well-known story, the powerful Mexican general Santa Anna surrounded Taylor and his small number of troops. Santa Anna sent a message demanding that they surrender. Taylor reportedly said: "Tell him to go to hell."

The two sides clashed the next morning. Santa Anna had about three times the men that Taylor had. Yet, by late that day, Taylor's soldiers had defeated Santa Anna's.

Taylor's success as a general helped the United States win the war against Mexico. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico agreed to give up claims to or sell to the U.S. more than 1.3 million square kilometers of its lands, including what are now the states of Texas and California.

But the new lands almost immediately caused problems.

Campaign of 1848

At the time of the next U.S. presidential election, public opinion in the country was severely⁶ divided. The issue was whether to permit slavery in the new lands won at the end of the war with Mexico.

In general, Northerners opposed expanding slavery.

In general, Southerners supported it.

To appeal to both these groups, the major parties at the time looked to Taylor to be their candidate for president.

The Democrats⁷ and the Whigs reasoned that Taylor was already well-known and well-liked. Historian Michael Holt said in 1848, Taylor was "the most popular man in America."

But Taylor was not really political. He called himself an independent. He shared some beliefs with both major parties at the time. But mostly he wanted to keep the nation together.

In the end, he agreed to be the candidate of the Whig Party. During the campaign, he did not take a stand on any of the major issues. His fame as a military general carried him into the White House.

Presidency

The truth was that Taylor did have an opinion on slavery: He did not want to expand it, especially in areas that did not support cotton or sugar farms.

So, once in office, he proposed a change to the rules about how new territories would become states. The change would let white, American, male settlers in California and New Mexico decide whether they wanted slavery. Then, those areas could enter the Union immediately as states.

Taylor aimed to quiet the debate about slavery. But his idea angered almost everybody.

Some U.S. lawmakers believed the president had cut them out of the decision.

Northerners said Taylor's proposal did not go far enough: It did not solve some of the other issues related to slavery.

And Southerners realized that settlers in California and New Mexico would almost surely reject slavery, and give free states a majority in Congress.

In one dramatic incident, some South Carolina officials called a meeting to discuss withdrawing from the Union. In answer, Taylor threatened to hang them.

But before Taylor or his idea could get too far, the president became sick.

The story is that he attended outdoor celebrations to mark the nation's birthday, July 4. Then he went for a walk. The weather was very hot. To cool off, Taylor ate uncooked fruit and drank iced milk.

That night he told others about pain in his stomach. Five days later, he was dead.

His doctor wrote that Taylor died of cholera⁸ morbus -- a general term for severe digestive problems.

A few people thought he might have been poisoned. The suspicion remained until 1991, when medical officials examined Taylor's remains⁹. They confirmed that he died of natural causes.

A more recent study offers more details. Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak say that Taylor was a victim of the same problem that killed presidents William Henry Harrison and James Polk: dirty water in the White House.

Legacy¹⁰

Taylor's death, while unfortunate, did not cause a political crisis. John Tyler had already established the rule that, if a president dies in office, the vice¹¹ president becomes president.

But Taylor's death did likely change the direction of history. His replacement¹², Millard Fillmore, did not try to hold the Union together by force. Instead, he joined with politicians who wanted to compromise on the issue.

The compromise legislation delayed but did not really settle the debate. In time, the division between North and South led to the American Civil War.

And members of Taylor's own family became linked to the states that withdrew from the Union.

One of his daughters had married Jefferson Davis, who became the president of the Confederacy.

Words in This Story

trait - n. a quality that makes one person or thing different from another

plantation - n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops (such as cotton) are grown

hell - n. the place where the devil lives and where evil people go after they die according to some religions; "go to hell" is an informal, impolite expression used to show that you are very angry with someone

dramatic - adj. greatly affecting people's emotions

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

3 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。