Zachary Taylor

Free Soil Party Splits Democratic Vote, Demonstrating Slavery's Destruction of Party Unity

1848-11-07 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

The 1848 presidential election takes place in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and intense debates over the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession. After both the Whig Party and the Democratic Party nominate presidential candidates who are unwilling to rule out the extension of …

Martin Van Buren Free Soil Party Democratic Party Whig Party Lewis Cass +1 more free-soil-party antislavery political-realignment sectional-conflict slavery-expansion

Polk Deceives Congress into War Declaration with False American Blood Claims

1846-05-11 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President James K. Polk presented Congress with a war message on May 11, 1846, claiming that Mexico “has at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil” after Mexican forces killed or wounded 16 U.S. soldiers in disputed territory between the …

James K. Polk Zachary Taylor U.S. Congress Abraham Lincoln Whig Party institutional-capture political-deception executive-overreach territorial-expansion slave-power