Robert Taylor would adopt his mother's political leanings and become a Democrat, and his older brother, Alfred, would follow his father into the Whig (and later Republican) Party.

[4] The family moved to Washington in 1867 when Nathaniel Taylor was appointed as Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President Andrew Johnson.

[3]: 29 In the 1870s, Taylor tried several business ventures, including farming, operating a lumber mill, and managing his father's Doe River iron forge.

[4] In 1878, Alfred Taylor ran for the Republican nomination for Tennessee's 1st congressional district seat against Augustus H. Pettibone.

The public got its first real taste of his speaking ability at a debate in Bristol, when Taylor thrashed Pettibone with a "bewildering kaleidoscope of oratory.

[3]: 48 In 1886, Republicans, hoping to exploit divisions in the Democratic Party between the pro-farmer and Bourbon factions, nominated Alfred Taylor for governor.

Democrats, realizing they needed a unifier and effective campaigner to counter Alfred, nominated Robert Taylor as their candidate, pitting the two brothers against one another.

[1] In 1889, Taylor signed into law a poll tax and a number of other bills aimed at suppressing turnout among blacks and the poor.

[1] In the early 1890s, Taylor, struggling with debt from constant campaigning, asked his brother, Alfred (who was now a US representative), for advice.

Robert opened his tour on December 29, 1891, at Jobe's Hall in Johnson City, where he presented his lecture, "The Fiddle and the Bow," with an admission price of 50 cents per person.

When several Democratic leaders invited Taylor to run, he reluctantly agreed and defeated Turney for the party's nomination in August 1896.

[1] Republicans suggested voting irregularities had helped Taylor win, but the Democratic-dominated state legislature obstructed any attempt at an investigation.

[1] The most notable event of Taylor's second term as governor was the Tennessee Centennial, which marked the 100th anniversary of the state's admission to the Union.

[3]: 70 After his final term as governor, Taylor returned to the lecture circuit, though he continuously sought one of the state's US Senate seats, then elected by the legislature.

In 1907, he defeated the incumbent Senator Edward W. Carmack in a public primary, and Taylor was elected by the state legislature to the seat later that year.

[1] In 1910, when incumbent Democratic Governor Malcolm R. Patterson withdrew from the state's gubernatorial contest because of the turmoil in the party over Prohibition, Taylor agreed to serve as a replacement nominee.

[1] On March 31, 1912, Taylor suffered a gallstone attack and died following unsuccessful surgery at Providence Hospital in Washington.