Polk's administration denounced him as being, and because he was, a Whig
general. My friends near me, whom I am happy to see here, belonging to
the House of Representatives, will remember that a leading man of the
party of the administration declared in his place in Congress, that the
policy of the administration, connected with the Mexican war, would
never prosper, till the President recalled those Whig generals, Scott
and Taylor. The policy was a Democratic policy. The argument was, that
the men to carry out this policy should be Democratic men; the officers
to fight the battles should be Democratic officers; and on that ground,
the ordinary vote of thanks was refused to General Taylor, on the part
of the friends of the administration.
Let me remark, in the next place, that there was no particular purpose
connected with the advancement of slavery entertained, generally, by
those who nominated him. As I have said, they were Whig nominations,
more in the Middle and Northern than in the Southern States, and by
persons who never entertained the slightest desire, by his nomination,
or by any other means, to extend the area of slavery of the human race,
or the influence of the slave-holding States in the councils of the
nation. The Quaker city of Philadelphia nominated General Taylor, the
Whigs all over the Union nominated him, with no such view. A great
convention was assembled in New York, of highly influential and
respectable gentlemen, very many of them well known to me, and they
nominated General Taylor with no such view.
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