How Did Zachary Taylor Contribute To The Rise Of The Abolitionist Movement

One could walk into almost any third grade classroom, and ask the children what the fifteenth president of the United States did. It is likely that they would instantly reply “Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves!” Simple knowledge such as this is well known throughout America's population, but there are very few who can tell you the names of the men who set the stage for the actions taken by their more popular successors. In the case of slavery, one of the preliminary presidents that contributed to the rise of the abolitionist movement was Zachary Taylor. Without this man, it is likely that this movement would be delayed by years and that the famous men we all know today would never have had the opportunity to make such a big impact on history. Though Taylor was one of the less popular presidents in American history, he made a monumental

They were descendants of William Brewster, one of the pilgrims, they were related to future president James Madison and Robert E. Lee. More importantly, their family came from a long line of prominent planters. Because of his work in the military, Zachary Taylor’s father, Richard Taylor, was granted land just outside Louisville, Kentucky. He and his pregnant wife, Sarah Dabney Strother, began the long journey to their new home. Along the way they realized it would be too difficult for her given her condition. So Richard Taylor left his wife and their two sons in Virginia for seven months while he cleared land and prepared their new frontier. While he was gone, his new son Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784 in Orange County, Virginia and they soon completed their expedition west to arrive at their new small wooden home on August 2, 1785. While they lived there, they gained more wealth and by 1800, they owned ten thousand acres of land, twenty-six slaves, and moved to a somewhat larger house of