Zachary Taylor and slavery

Taylor opposed the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California into the Union as a free state and banned the slave trade in Washington, D.C., in exchange for allowing most of the remaining territory captured from Mexico to decide the issue of slavery locally and passing a federal fugitive slave law requiring state authorities to assist federal marshals in capturing and detaining escaped slaves.

However, Taylor died in office before he could veto the bill, leading to its successful passage under his successor Millard Fillmore.

[2] Taylor reportedly paid taxes on ownership of 114 slaves in Jefferson County, Mississippi in 1848.

[3] In 1848 slave trader Bernard M. Campbell sold two enslaved people to presidential candidate Zachary Taylor for $1500 (~$42,752 in 2023).

[5]Researchers believe that Charles Porter, Tom, Jane Webb, and William some of the enslaved people brought to the White House by Zachary Taylor.