Presidential Transitions: 1848
There were some eras in history when the job of being President must have been a killer for the office holder. Literally. In just two years (1849 and 1850), the president and former president would pass away, likely the result of the disease of cholera. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
James K. Polk is famous (in song among other places) for having "met his every goal", though this claim is disputed by some. One goal he failed to meet was to hand the White House over to a Democrat in 1848. Polk promised at the beginning of his term in office that he would not seek re-election in 1848 and he kept that promise. When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, Polk had one political problem: he didn't have any generals who were Democrats, none that were any good at least. He considered appointing a Democrat to lead his army in Mexico, but no suitable candidates were available. Polk's military efforts were led by Zachary Taylor, a career soldier who was not openly political (but who was believed to be a Whig), and Winfield Scott, who was known to be a Whig.
Taylor soon became famous and admired back home following a series of military victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Fearing that Taylor would become a political threat, a big chunk of his army was sent to join that of Scott. Despite this, Taylor won yet another famous victory at Monterrey and later still at Buena Vista.
When he returned home from the war, Taylor was courted by both parties to become their candidate. He ultimately declared himself to be a Whig and reluctantly agreed to serve as their candidate in the 1848 election. He won the party's nomination on the fourth ballot at a convention that only took one day. The Democrats nominated another former general, Lewis Cass of Michigan, as their candidate, but Taylor was too popular. He appealed to voters in the South, because he was a slaveholder and a general whose victories opened up more potential slave states. He appealed to voters in the North because he was perceived as someone who would defer to Congress on major issues. (This proved to be a mistaken assumption).
The Free Soil party, an anti-slavery party, ran former President Martin Van Buren as their candidate. The Whigs relied on Taylor's popularity as a general who won military victories despite facing larger armies and despite lacking the support of the Polk administration. The campaign was marked by personal attacks, with the Democrats calling Taylor vulgar, uneducated, cruel and greedy, and the Whigs attacking Cass for graft and dishonesty. The division of the Democrats over slavery allowed Taylor to win in the north-east where the Free Soilers (the name sounds like they had a problem with incontinence), who were on the ballots in only 17 of the 29 states with the popular vote, took votes away from the Democrats.
The Whigs won their second and final victory in a Presidential election. Taylor won the electoral college by capturing 163 of the 290 electoral votes. The popular vote was much closer. Although Taylor out-polled Cass in the popular vote by 138,000 votes, he came 79,000 votes shy of a majority, receiving 47% of the popular vote.
President-elect Taylor, who was still a General, did not resign his position as Western Division commander until late January 1849. He spent the months following the election making his cabinet selections. He was deliberate and quiet about his decisions, to the frustration of his fellow Whigs who felt left out of the process. Like any President of that era, Taylor was inundated with office-seekers. He despised patronage, though he chose not to appoint any Democrats. Taylor apportioned the cabinet seats geographically. He also avoided choosing prominent Whigs such as Henry Clay. Clay's fellow Kentucky politician John J. Crittenden was a friend and key advisor of Taylor's. He offered to make Crittenden his Secretary of State, but Crittenden insisted on serving out the Governorship of Kentucky to which he had just been elected. Taylor settled instead on Senator John M. Clayton of Delaware, a close associate of Crittenden's.
Taylor began his journey to Washington in late January, a journey hampered by bad weather, delays, injuries, and sickness. Taylor finally arrived in the nation's capital on February 24. He met with the outgoing President Polk. Polk held a low opinion of Taylor. In his diary he described Taylor as a well-meaning old man, but as someone who was in over his head. Polk wrote that Taylor was someone who was "without political information" and "wholly unqualified for the station" of President. Taylor spent the following week meeting with some of the more prominent politicians, some of whom were unimpressed with the new president. But as Henry Clay and others would soon find out, Taylor intended to be his own man. With less than two weeks until his inauguration, he met with Clayton and hastily finalized his cabinet.
Taylor's term as president began Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the following day because religious tradition saw this as breaking the Sabbath. His inaugural address discussed the many tasks facing the nation, but presented a governing style of deference to Congress and sectional compromise instead of assertive executive action. Throughout the summer of 1849, Taylor toured the northeastern U.S., to familiarize himself with a region of which he had seen very little. He spent much of the trip plagued by gastrointestinal illness and returned to Washington by September.
Meanwhile, Polk headed home to Tennessee, making the journey a sort of farewell tour. Polk was not in good health. His workaholic style of micromanaging the government had worn him down and he was very tired and showing the stress of the job, though he was only 53 years of age. He had lost weight and had deep lines on his face and dark circles under his eyes. On the journey home he was greeted by crowds of well-wishers. He is believed to have contracted cholera in New Orleans, Louisiana, on his goodwill tour of the South on the way home. He returned home very tired and very sick. Polk would have the shortest retirement of an former President, just 103 days. He died of cholera at his new home, Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee, at 3:15 pm on June 15, 1849, three months after leaving office. He was buried on the grounds of Polk Place. Polk's last words illustrate his devotion to his wife: "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you."
Taylor would pass away just over a year later, in July of 1850. Though the cause of his death was diagnosed as cholera morbus, it is unclear, with the best guess appearing to be a form of food poisoning, while some had gone so far as to speculate that he was poisoned.