Historians In Awe Over Discovery At Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Property

Zachary Taylor Angered Slave Owners And They Might Have Poisoned Him

The 12th President of the United States was a slave owner with nearly 150 people under his control. Despite owning many slaves, he was an opponent of expanding slave ownerships into the western states. Taylor believed that western states couldn’t support a slave economy because they didn’t have the ability to grow cotton or sugar as easily as states in the east.

Taylor would be the last U.S. President to own slaves while serving in office but he was not the last POTUS to claim ownership over people throughout their life. Taylor’s body was exhumed years after his death to determine if slave supporters poisoned him but those tests were inconclusive.