Taylor Administration - Taylor and Congress
Taylor and Congress
Perhaps because he had so little political experience, Taylor failed to recognize the need of winning over influential members of Congress to his side. Kentucky senator Henry Clay, a leading Whig who had also vied for the 1848 nomination, complained, "I have never before seen such an Administration. There is very little cooperation or concord between the two ends of the Avenue. There is not, I believe, a prominent Whig in either House that has any confidential intercourse with the Executive" (Bauer, p. 265). Other Whig leaders like Daniel Webster and Robert C. Winthrop, both of Massachusetts, and John Bell of Tennessee also were slighted. Thus, several Whigs were not enthusiastic with Taylor's proposals for dealing with the problems that arose from the acquisition of the Mexican Cession (land acquired through the Mexican War (1846–48)), such as letting the new states make their own decisions on whether or not to...
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