Description: TITLE: Zachary Taylor: Volume 1: Soldier of the Republic / Volume 2: Soldier in the White House (Two-Volume Set) (Easton Library of the Presidents, No. 12) AUTHOR: Hamilton, Holman AUTHOR 2 (if applicable): n/a AUTHOR 3 (if applicable): n/a ILLUSTRATOR (if applicable): n/a PUBLISHER: The Easton Press, Date: 1989 ISBN: N/A (pre-ISBN publication) FORMAT: Leatherbound, 335/496 pages EDITION: First Edition Thus PRINTING [if applicable]: 1st Printing (No Later Stated) BOOK CONDITION: Very Good JACKET CONDITION: No Jacket (As Issued) DIMENSIONS (if available): 9.25 x 6.50 x 2.25 in. approx. KEYWORDS: President, United States, Easton Library, Zachary Taylor, 12th President, America, 1800s, 19th Century, Biography, History, Government, Politics, Presidents Who Died in Office, Natural Causes DESCRIPTION: From the Collector's Notes: Volume I: Zachary Taylor Soldier of the Republic Until the publication of this volume, Zachary Taylor was strangely overlooked by modern-day biographers. Fortunately, journalist and newspaper editor Holman Hamilton has ably rectified this situation, and filled a large gap in the biographical record of American presidential history with this stirring account of the life and times of "Old Rough and Ready". Zachary Taylor Soldier of the Republic is the first volume of Hamilton's two-volume biography. It covers the entire span of Taylor's military career from his earliest service in Indian warfare on the fringe of the frontier, to his great triumphs on bloodstained Mexican battlefields. Here is the story of 40 years of preparation for the brief period of glory in which Taylor was elevated to fame as 12th President of the United States: his presidency lasted a mere 16 months. Here too, for the first time, is the true romantic story of the courtship and marriage of Taylor's daughter and Jefferson Davis. All is set in a realistic framework of American life on the advancing western frontier from 1820 to 1845. Taylor fought in four wars, and was a distinguished hero in all of them. "Old Rough and Ready", as he was affectionately called by his men, was first and foremost a soldier in the service of his country. Although lacking the genius and appeal of many of his contemporaries - Lee and Stonewall Jackson included - author Hamilton contends that no one did more to open the rich land of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan for settlement by the white man. He was the ideal professional soldier: loyal; brave; resourceful; conscientious; dependable; and as simple in his tastes as were Grant and Lincoln, both of whom, with Lee and Davis, were once under his command. Volume II: Zachary Taylor Soldier in the White House In this second volume of Holman Hamilton's landmark biography of Zachary Taylor, Taylor's brief but important political career is intensively examined. It traces Taylor's return to the U.S. in December of 1847 from the bloody Mexican battlefields, to his death on July 9, 1850, a mere sixteen months after assuming the office of the presidency. Upon returning home to his plantation in Mississippi, Taylor was no longer an anonymous soldier. His thrilling victories at Palo Alto, Monterey and Buena Vista had transformed him into a national hero and a ranking major general. He was showered with medals, popular songs were dedicated to him, and girls threw flowers in his path. More than his heroics though, his unassuming manner endeared him to the American public, and almost overnight he became the favorite son candidate for the highest office in the nation, Taylor the soldier was now to be tested as Taylor the politician. In 1849, when Zachary Taylor became President, the bonds of the union were already severely strained by pro- and anti-slavery forces. North-South tensions were so acute that one senator drew and aimed a pistol at another in the Senate Chamber, The burning issue was the disposition of the newly acquired western territories as slave or free-soil states, and at no point is the story of "Old Rough and Ready' more Almost immediately after his inauguration, Taylor, the old slave-holding soldier, staunchly stood his ground against the extension of slavery by encouraging California and New Mexico to quickly draw up their free-soil constitutions and apply for statehood. Dead set against him were the leaders of his own party, Clay and Webster, both pleading for a new compromise to again "temporarily" save the union while a dying Calhoun sounded one of the first calls for secession. It's a story filled with political intrigue and intense drama, and Hamilton makes the most of it by reviving the crisis, especially the Senate's Great Debate, with wit and scholarship. With both sides resolute - the Senate passionately divided along and across sectional and party lines - an impasse seemed inevitable. However, Calhoun's death, followed shortly by that of the President's, opened the door for the temporary compromise that, as Hamilton believes, tragically sealed the nation's fate and made the Civil War inevitable. Although one can only speculate, it is interesting to imagine the radically different course America's history would have taken had Taylor lived. ********** This is the Easton Library of the Presidents reprints Hamilton's biography of the 12th President, originally published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1949 (Volume I) and 1951 (Volume II). For convenience, I have numbered these volumes based on the order of the Presidencies; numbers do not reflect the order in which the volumes were originally released. This copy includes the original collector's notes and the unused original custom bookplate. CONDITION: Light shelf-wear to leather covers, fading to the top edges. Some faint wear and mild foxing to the top and outside edge gilt, the interior of each volume appears clean and unmarked. Accompanying documentation displays some ageing around the edges. A solid VG set. FROM THE BOOKSELLER: Thank you for visiting the Dactyl Books eBay Store! 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Price: 41.79 USD
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
End Time: 2024-12-30T23:17:02.000Z
Shipping Cost: 8.38 USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Binding: Leather
Language: English
Signed: No
Personalized: No
Region: North America
Author: Holman Hamilton
Publisher: Easton Press
Topic: American (US)
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Subject: History
Character Family: American Presidents
Original/Facsimile: Original