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Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850), also known as "Old Rough and Ready," was the twelfth President of the United States, serving from 1849 to 1850. Taylor was noted for his extensive military career and for becoming the first president not previously elected to any other public office. He was the second president to die in office.

Biography

Taylor was born in a log cabin to Richard Taylor and Sarah Strother, near Barboursville, Virginia, though his family was aristocratic. As an infant he and his family moved to Kentucky, where Taylor grew up on a plantation and was known as "Little Zack." Taylor and Margaret Mackall Smith met in early 1810 and were married on June 21, 1810. They had one son and five daughters, two of whom died in infancy. In 1808, Taylor joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Soon afterward he was ordered west into Indiana Territory, taking command of Fort Harrison. In the War of 1812 (1812–1815), he became known as an excellent military commander. Taylor was also noted for standing 5'8" or 5'9" tall and weighing between 170 and 200 pounds, with long arms, short, stubby legs and a thick torso. It is believed that Taylor sometimes needed to be boosted into his saddle. Taylor also served in the Black Hawk War (1832) and the Second Seminole War (1835–1842). During the Seminole War he gained the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" after the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. President James K. Polk sent an army under his command to the Rio Grande in 1846. When the Mexicans attacked Taylor's troops, Taylor defeated them despite being outnumbered 4-to-1. Polk later declared war; in the Mexican-American War that followed, Taylor won additional important victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista and became a national hero. Polk kept Taylor in northern Mexico, disturbed by his informal habits of command and his affiliation with the Whig Party. He sent an expedition under General Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. Taylor, incensed, thought that "the battle of Buena Vista opened the road to the city of Mexico and the halls of Montezuma, that others might revel in them."

Presidency

Montezuma.]] He received the Whig nomination for President in 1848, although he had never even bothered to vote before. In fact, he had never even bothered to register, and didn't vote in his own election. His homespun ways were political assets, his long military record would appeal to northerners, and his ownership of slaves would attract southern votes. He also had not previously committed himself on troublesome issues. He ran against the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, who favored letting the residents of territories decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery. In protest against Taylor, a slaveholder, and Cass, an advocate of "squatter sovereignty," northerners who opposed extension of slavery into territories formed the Free Soil Party and nominated Martin Van Buren. In a close election, the Free Soilers pulled enough votes away from Cass to elect Taylor. Taylor earned a footnote in Presidential history before he even took office. His term of service was scheduled to begin on March 4, 1849, but it being a Sunday, Taylor refused to be sworn in until the following day. Vice President Millard Fillmore was also not sworn in on that day. As a result, it is claimed that the nation technically had no President or Vice President for one day. Some people postulate that David Rice Atchison, the previous President Pro Tempore of the Senate, was technically Acting President, but this statement is rejected by virtually every constitutional scholar. Constitutionally, Taylor's term began on March 4, regardless of whether he had taken the oath or not. President Pro Tempore of the Senate Although Taylor had subscribed to Whig principles of legislative leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of Whig leaders in Congress. He acted at times as though he were above parties and politics. As disheveled as always, Taylor tried to run his administration in the same rule-of-thumb fashion with which he had fought Indians. Under Taylor´s administration the United States Department of the Interior was organized, although the Department had been activated under President Polk´s last day in office. Traditionally, people could decide whether they wanted slavery when they drew up new state constitutions. Therefore, to end the dispute over slavery in new areas, Taylor urged settlers in New Mexico and California to draft constitutions and apply for statehood, bypassing the territorial stage. Southerners were furious, since neither state constitution was likely to permit slavery; members of Congress were dismayed, since they felt the President was usurping their policy-making prerogatives. In addition, Taylor's solution ignored several acute side issues: the northern dislike of the slave market operating in the District of Columbia and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law. In February 1850 President Taylor had held a stormy conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered. secession After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, 1850, Taylor fell ill with acute indigestion and was diagnosed by his physicians with cholera morbus. He died five days later, after just 16 months in office. He is buried in Louisville, Kentucky in the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. Taylor was succeeded by his Vice President, Millard Fillmore. It is widely held that the cause of Taylor's death was put to rest in the early 1990s when Taylor's remains were exhumed and examined [http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/ansside6.html] for arsenic poisoning. However critics point out the cause of death remains unknown, despite frequent reporting in the media otherwise. Scientists determined the levels of arsenic from hair and nail samples. A medical examiner then concluded that the amount of arsenic found in the samples was not sufficient to be fatal but "the symptoms which he exhibited and the rapidity of his death are clearly consistent with acute arsenic poisoning." [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0872863573/photobinbook-20/002-9587828-8001612] Taylor had eaten a large quantity of iced milk and cherries on the hot day prior to falling ill, one of which may have been contaminated, and which likely led to a still-extant old wives' tale stating that milk and cherries become toxic when consumed together. Taylor's son Richard became a Confederate Lieutenant-General, while his daughter Sarah Knox Taylor married Jefferson Davis. Taylor's brother, Joseph Pannill Taylor, was a Brigadier General in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War.

Cabinet


External links


- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/zt12.html White House Biography]
- [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/taylor.html Zachary Taylor State of the Union Address]
- [http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/taylor.html Inaugural Address of Zachary Taylor]
-

References


- Bauer, Jack K. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State University Press: 1993. ISBN 0807118516
- Smith, Elbert B. The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. University Press of Kansas: 1988. ISBN 070060362X. Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Zachary ko:재커리 테일러 ja:ザカリー・テイラー simple:Zachary Taylor

November 24

November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 37 days remaining in the year.

Events


- 380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal entry, into Constantinople.
- 642 - Theodore succeeds John IV as Pope.
- 1639 - Jeremiah Horrocks observes the transit of Venus (November 24 in the Julian calendar, or December 4 in the Gregorian calendar).
- 1642 - Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
- 1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Lookout Mountain - Near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant capture Lookout Mountain and begin to break the Confederate siege of the city led by General Braxton Bragg.
- 1904 - The first successful caterpillar track is made.
- 1922 - Author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers is executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.
- 1932 - In Washington, DC, the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
- 1935 - The Senegalese Socialist Party holds its second congress.
- 1941 - World War II: The United States grants Lend-Lease to the Free French.
- 1944 - World War II: Bombing of Tokyo - The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital from the east and by land was made by 88 American aircraft.
- 1947 - Red Scare: After refusing to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, the United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10.
- 1947 - Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1951 - The Broadway play Gigi opens with little-known actress Audrey Hepburn in the title role.
- 1962 - The West Berlin branch of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany forms a separate party, the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin.
- 1963 - John F. Kennedy assassination: Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is mortally shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television.
- 1963 - Vietnam War: Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically.
- 1969 - Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
- 1971 - During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D.B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with US$200,000 in ransom money - neither he or the money are ever found.
- 1974 - The skeleton of "Lucy", a 3.18 million years old female hominid, of the genus Australopithecus, was discovered in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia.
- 1976 - The Band gives its last public performance, documented by Martin Scorsese in the film The Last Waltz.
- 1991 - Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, dies of AIDS at age 45
- 1992 - In the People's Republic of China, a China Southern Airlines domestic flight crashes, killing all 141 people on-board.
- 1993 - In Liverpool, 11-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are convicted of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.
- 1996 - Rusty Wallace wins the Suzuka NASCAR Thunder 100 racing event at Suzuka Circuitland in Suzuka City (this was the first NASCAR competition held in Japan).
- 1996 - Crowded House play a farewell concert in front of the Sydney Opera House for an estimated crowd of 250,000.
- 1998 - America Online announces it will acquire Netscape Communications in a stock-for-stock transaction worth US$4.2 billion.
- 2005 - The Licensing Act 2003 comes into force in England and Wales, introducing flexibility in the hours during which alcoholic beverages may be sold.
- 2005 - Accident during Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, two bystanders are injured.
- 2005 - Conservative leader Stephen Harper, the leader of the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliment, introduced a motion of no confidence, which NDP leader Jack Layton seconded. The motion was passed on November 28 which led to the dissolution to the 38th Canadian Parliament.

Births


- 1273 - Alphonso, Earl of Chester, son of Edward I of England (d. 1284)
- 1394 - Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (d. 1465)
- 1420 - John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (d. 1473)
- 1583 - Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (d. 1641)
- 1615 - Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1690)
- 1630 - Etienne Baluze, French scholar (d. 1718)
- 1632 - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (d. 1677)
- 1655 - King Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
- 1690 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1750)
- 1713 - Junipero Serra, Spanish missionary (d. 1784)
- 1713 - Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist (d. 1768)
- 1729 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (d. 1800)
- 1784 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (d. 1850)
- 1787 - Franz Xaver Gruber, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1863)
- 1801 - Ludwig Bechstein, German narrator and poet (d. 1860)
- 1806 - William Webb Ellis, often credited with the invention of Rugby (d. 1872)
- 1811 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1890)
- 1826 - Carlo Collodi, Italian author (d. 1890)
- 1849 - Frances Hodgson Burnett, British-born author (d. 1924)
- 1853 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter and policeman (d. 1921)
- 1859 - Cass Gilbert, American architect (d. 1934)
- 1864 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
- 1868 - Scott Joplin, American musician (d. 1917)
- 1874 - Charles Miller, 'Father of Brazilian football' (d. 1953)
- 1876 - Walter Burley Griffin, American architect (d. 1937)
- 1877 - Alben W. Barkley, Vice President of the United States (d. 1956)
- 1881 - Al Christie, film director and producer (d. 1951)
- 1884 - Itzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (d. 1963)
- 1888 - Dale Carnegie, American writer (d. 1955)
- 1888 - Fredrick Willius, American cardiologist (d. 1972)
- 1894 - Herbert Sutcliffe, England test cricketer (d. 1978)
- 1895 - Ludvík Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1979)
- 1905 - Irwin Allen, American film producer and director (d. 1991)
- 1912 - Garson Kanin, American writer (d. 1999)
- 1912 - Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (d. 2005)
- 1916 - Forrest J. Ackerman, American writer and publisher
- 1917 - Howard Duff, American actor
- 1921 - John Lindsay, American politician (d. 2000)
- 1924 - Victor Grinich Croatian-American businessman (d. 2000)
- 1925 - William F. Buckley Jr., American writer and political commentator
- 1925 - Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1926 - Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1927 - Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Alfredo Kraus, Spanish tenor (d. 1999)
- 1930 - Bob Friend, baseball player
- 1934 - Alfred Schnittke, German composer (d. 1998)
- 1938 - Oscar Robertson, American basketball player
- 1941 - Pete Best, British musician, Ringo Starr's predecessor in The Beatles
- 1942 - Billy Connolly, British comedian
- 1943 - Dave Bing, American basketball player
- 1946 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer (d. 1989)
- 1947 - Dwight Schultz, American actor
- 1948 - Steve Yeager, baseball player
- 1951 - Chet Edwards, American politician
- 1955 - Ian Botham, England test cricketer
- 1955 - Elvis Ramone, American drummer (The Ramones)
- 1955 - Takashi Yuasa, Japanese lawyer
- 1957 - Denise Crosby, American actress
- 1960 - Amanda Wyss, American actress
- 1962 - John Squire, British guitarist (The Stone Roses)
- 1964 - Brad Sherwood, American comedian
- 1964 - Robert Trujillo, American bassist (Metallica)
- 1967 - Russell Watson, British singer
- 1971 - Keith Primeau, Canadian hockey player
- 1976 - Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
- 1978 - Katherine Heigl, American actress

Deaths


- 654 - Emperor Kōtoku of Japan
- 1468 - Jean de Dunois, French soldier (b. 1402)
- 1531 - Johannes Oecolampadius, German religious reformer (b. 1482)
- 1541 - Margaret Tudor, Queen of James IV of Scotland (b. 1489)
- 1572 - John Knox, Scottish reformer
- 1583 - René de Birague, French cardinal and chancellor (b. 1506)
- 1615 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (b. 1556)
- 1650 - Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (b. 1566)
- 1722 - Johann Adam Reinken, German organist (b. 1623)
- 1741 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (b. 1688)
- 1770 - Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian (b. 1685)
- 1775 - Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (b. 1703)
- 1781 - James Caldwell, American revolutionary (b. 1734)
- 1793 - Clément Charles François de Laverdy, French statesman (b. 1723)
- 1801 - Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (b. 1725)
- 1848 - Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)
- 1870 - Comte de Lautréamont, French writer (b. 1846)
- 1890 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (b. 1816)
- 1916 - Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, American-born gunsmith, inventor of the Maxim gun (b. 1840)
- 1922 - Robert Erskine Childers, Irish author and nationalist (executed) (b. 1870)
- 1929 - Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France (b. 1841)
- 1943 - Doris Miller, African-American cook in the United States Navy (b. 1919)
- 1956 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
- 1957 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
- 1958 - Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, British politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- 1973 - John Neihardt, American writer (b. 1881)
- 1980 - George Raft, American actor (b. 1895)
- 1985 - Big Joe Turner, American singer (b. 1911)
- 1991 - Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen) (AIDS) (b. 1946)
- 1996 - Sorley MacLean, British poet (b. 1911)
- 2003 - Floquet de Neu, Spanish albino gorilla (b. 1964)
- 2004 - Wong Jim, Hong Kong songwriter (b. 1940)
- 2004 - Arthur Hailey, British-born author (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances


- Roman festivals - in the Byzantine empire the Brumalia (a wine festival) were celebrated from this day until the winter solstice
- R.C. Saints - Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and other Vietnamese martyrs
- Also see November 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- United States - Thanksgiving (2005)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/24 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 23 - November 25 - October 24 - December 24 -- listing of all days ko:11월 24일 ms:24 November ja:11月24日 simple:November 24 th:24 พฤศจิกายน

1784

1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 6 - the Turks agree to Russia's annexation of the Crimea in the Treaty of Constantinople
- January 14 - The US Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with England to end the American Revolutionary War
- February 27 – Count of St Germain dies of pneumonia in Schleswig-Holstein
- February 28 - John Wesley charters the Methodist Church
- August 10 - Jeanne de la Motte fools Cardinal de Rohan - Queen's Necklace Affair begins
- December 25 - Methodist Episcopal Church in USA officially formed at so-called "Christmas Conference", led by Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury
- The Japanese famine continues as 300,000 die of starvation
- Benjamin Franklin tries in vain to persuade the French to alter their clocks in winter to take advantage of the daylight
- Benjamin Franklin invents bifocal spectacles
- Antoine Lavoisier pioneers quantitative chemistry
- Britain receives its first bales of imported American cotton
- Britain creates the colony of New Brunswick
- Emperor Josef II suspends the Hungarian Constitution because of a Revolution in Transylvania
- Huge locust swarm in South Africa

Births


- January 28 - George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
- March 13 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (d. 1842)
- April 5 - Louis Spohr, German violinist and composer (d. 1859)
- April 13 - Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
- July 22 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1846)
- October 13 - King Ferdinand VII of Spain (d. 1833)
- October 19 - John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)
- October - Sarah Biffen, English painter (d. 1850)
- November 24 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (d. 1850)

Deaths


- April 26 - Nano Nagle, Irish convent founder (b. 1718)
- May 12 - Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
- June 13 - Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
- June 26 - Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1728)
- July 1 - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German composer (b. 1710)
- July 31 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1713)
- August 4 - Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (b. 1706)
- August 10 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter (b. 1713)
- August 14 - Nathaniel Hone, Irish-born painter (b. 1718)
- August 28 - Junípero Serra, Spanish Franciscan missionary (b. 1713)
- September 4 - César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (b. 1714)
- September 8 - Ann Lee, American religious leader (b. 1736)
- December 4 - Wiseman Claget, English classical scholar (b. 1721)
- December 13 - Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)
- December 25 - Yosa Buson, Japanese poet and painter (b. 1716)
- December 26 - Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (b. 1743) Category:1784 ko:1784년 ms:1784

1850

1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 4 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- January 29 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress
- February 28 - University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
- March 7 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
- March 18 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
- April 4 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
- July 9 - President Zachary Taylor dies while in office and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States (he is inaugurated the next day).
- July 9 - The Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith, is executed by firing squad in Tabriz, Persia
- August 28 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres
- September 9 - California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.
- September 9 - New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the U.S. Congress
- December 16 - The first four sailing ships arrived at the Port of Lyttelton (New Zealand), with 792 emigrants or Canterbury Pilgrims as they called themselves. On this day they founded an exclusive theocratic Utopia, which they called Christchurch.
- December - Christian mystic Hong Xiuquan begins the Taiping Rebellion.
- The United States Republican Party is founded
- Foundation of the University of Sydney, the oldest in Australia
- The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Mass.U.S.A. Waltham Watch Company
- Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose- built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.
- Pinkerton Detective Agency
- France begins to transport colonists to Algeria
- Modern acoustic guitar created in Spain
- Rifling becomes common in firearms
- Entre Ríos Province in Argentina revolts - it is backed by Brazil in alliance with Paraguay and the Uruguayan Colorado Party
- Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the Underground Railroad
- James Beckwourth discovers Beckwourth Pass.

Births

January - April


- January 4 - Frederick York Powell, English historian and scholar (died 1904)
- January 6 - Eduard Bernstein, German social democratic theoretician and politician (died 1932)
- January 6 - Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (died 1924)
- January 10 - John Wellborn Root, U.S. architect (died 1891)
- January 11 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (died 1917)
- January 14 - Pierre Loti, French sailor and writer (died 1923)
- January 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian romantic poet (died 1889)
- January 15 - Leonard Darwin, son of the British naturalist Charles Darwin (died 1943)
- January 15 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (died 1891)
- January 17 - Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (died 1918)
- January 18 - Seth Low, American educator (died 1916)
- January 19 - Augustine Birrell, English author and politician (died 1933)
- January 24 - Mary Noailles Murfree, American novelist (died 1922)
- January 27 - Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (died 1912)
- January 27 - Samuel Gompers, U.S. labor union leader (died 1924)
- January 28 - Edward Merritt Hughes, U.S. Navy officer (died 1903)
- February 12 - William Morris Davis, U.S. geographer (died 1934)
- February 14 - Kiyoura Keigo, Prime Minister of Japan (died 1942)
- February 15 - Albert B. Cummins, U.S. political figure (died 1926)
- February 17 - Alf Morgans, Premier of Western Australia (died 1933)
- February 23 - César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (died 1918)
- February 27 - Henry Huntington, U.S. railroad pioneer and art collector (died 1927)
- March 7 - Tomáš Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia (died 1937)
- March 7 - Champ Clark, U.S. politician (died 1921)
- March 7 - Éphrem-A. Brisebois, Canadian police officer (died 1890)
- March 13 - Hugh John Macdonald, premier of Manitoba (died 1929)
- March 26 - Edward Bellamy, U.S. author (died 1898)
- March 31 - Charles Doolittle Walcott, U.S. invertebrate paleontologist (died 1927)
- April 11 - Isidor Rayner, U.S. senator (died 1912)
- April 12 - Nikolai Golitsyn, Prime Minister of Russia (died 1925)
- April 13 - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (died 1917)
- April 15 - William Thomas Pipes, Nova Scotia politician (died 1909)
- April 15 - Edmund Peck, Canadian missionary (died 1924)
- April 16 - Paul von Breitenbach, German railway planner (died 1930)
- April 18 - Joseph Labadie, U.S. labor organizer (died 1933)
- April 20 - Daniel Chester French, U.S. sculptor (died 1931)
- April 26 - Harry Bates, British sculptor (died 1899)
- April 26 - James Drake, Australian politician (died 1915)
- April 27 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German soldier (died 1921)
- April 29 - George Murdoch, first mayor of Calgary (died 1910)

May - December


- May 1 - Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom (died 1942)
- May 7 - Anton Seidl, Hungarian conductor (died 1898)
- May 8 - Ross Barnes, U.S. baseball player (died 1915)
- May 10 - Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant and yachtsman (died 1931)
- May 12 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (died 1924)
- May 12 - Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, Scottish Liberal politician and jurist (died 1934)
- May 12 - Frederick Holder, premier of South Australia (died 1909)
- May 14 - Alva Adams, Governor of Colorado (died 1922)
- May 18 - Oliver Heaviside, British engineer (died 1925)
- May 21 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (died 1914)
- May 27 - Thomas Neill Cream, serial killer (died 1892)
- May 28 - Frederic William Maitland, English jurist and historian (died 1906)
- May 30 - Frederick Dent Grant, U.S.soldier and statesman (died 1912)
- June 2 - Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, British businessman (died 1931)
- June 3 - Albert M. Todd, American businessman and politician (died 1931)
- June 5 - Pat Garrett, American bartender and sheriff (died 1908)
- June 6 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918)
- June 12 - Roberto Ivens, Portuguese explorer of Africa (died 1898)
- June 22 - Ignaz Goldziher, Jewish Hungarian orientalist (died 1921)
- June 24 - Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal and statesman (died 1916)
- June 27 - Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet (died 1921)
- June 27 - Lafcadio Hearn, Greco-Japanese author (died 1904)
- June 27 - Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (died 1916)
- July 2 - Robert Ridgway, U.S. ornithologist (died 1929)
- July 8 - Charles Rockwell Lanman, U.S. Sanskrit scholar (died 1941)
- July 12 - Newell Sanders, U.S. businessman and politician (died 1938)
- July 12 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (died 1912)
- July 15 - Mother Cabrini, U.S. saint (died 1917)
- July 20 - John G. Shedd, U.S. businessman (died 1926)
- July 28 - William Whittingham Lyman, U.S. vintner (died 1921)
- July 31 - Robert Love Taylor, Tennessee congressman (died 1912)
- July 31 - Robert Planquette, French composer of stage musicals (died 1903)
- August 5 - Guy de Maupassant, French writer
- August 6 - Henri Chantavoine, French writer (died 1918)
- August 14 - W. W. Rouse Ball, British mathematician (died 1925)
- August 26 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935)
- August 27 - Silas Alexander Ramsay, mayor of Calgary (died 1942)
- August 30 - Cal McVey, U.S. baseball player (died 1926)
- September 2 - Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (died 1919)
- September 2 - Eugene Field, U.S. writer (died 1895)
- September 2 - Albert Spalding, U.S. baseball player and businessman (died 1915)
- September 2 - Alfred Pringsheim, German mathematician (died 1941)
- September 8 - Paul Gerson Unna, German dermatologist (died 1929)
- September 9 - Jane Ellen Harrison, British classical scholar and feminist (died 1928)
- September 28 - Charles William Dorsett, U.S. prohibitionist (died 1936)
- October 1 - David R. Francis, Governor of Missouri (died 1927)
- October 18 - Pablo Iglesias, Spanish socialist politician (died 1925)
- October 18 - Basil Hall Chamberlain, British Japanologist (died 1935)
- October 22 - Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (died 1908)
- October 30 - John Patton, Jr., U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan (died 1907)
- November 5 - Ella Wheeler Wilcox, U.S. author and poet (died 1919)
- November 12 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (died 1908)
- November 13 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (died 1894)
- November 13 - Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, British politician (died 1922)
- November 16 - Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, Chilean political figure (died 1901)
- November 22 - Georg Dehio, German historian of art (died 1932)
- November 28 - Robert Koehler, German born painter and art teacher (died 1917)
- November 30 - Cayetano Coll y Toste, Puerto Rican historian and writer (died 1930)
- December 8 - Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania (died 1904)
- December 9 - Emma Abbott, U.S. opera singer (died 1891)
- December 11 - Mary Victoria Hamilton, Scottish-German-French great-grandmother of Prince Rainier III of Monaco (died 1922)
- December 12 - Martin F. Ansel, Governor of South Carolina (died 1945)
- December 21 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (died 1900)
- December 24 - Brandon Thomas, British actor and playwright (died 1914)
- December 25 - Florence Griswold, U.S. art curator (died 1937)
- December 28 - Francesco Tamagno, Italian operatic tenor (died 1905)

Unknown Date

A - H


- Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Saudi ruler (died 1928)
- Abraham Fischer, Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa (died 1913)
- Alexandre Luigini, French conductor and composer (died 1906)
- Alfred Gabriel Nathorst, Swedish Arctic explorer and geologist (died 1921)
- Alfred Maudslay, British colonial diplomat (died 1931)
- Andria Dadiani, Prince of Samegrelo (died 1910)
- Bernhard Baron, Jewish cigarette-manufacturer and philanthropist (died 1929)
- Artur Władysław Potocki, Polish nobleman (died 1890)
- Bernardo Reyes, Mexican general (died 1913)
- Charles Braithwaite, Manitoba politician and agrarian leader (died 1910)
- Charles Hazelius Sternberg, U.S. fossil collector and amateur paleontologist (died 1943)
- Cuthbert A. Brereton, British civil engineer (died 1910)
- Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, U.S. publisher (died 1933)
- Daniel Carter Beard, U.S. scouting pioneer (died 1941)
- Daniel J. Greene, Newfoundland politician (died 1911)
- Ebenezer Howard, British urban planner (died 1928)
- Edgar Wilson Nye, U.S. humorist (died 1896)
- Edmond Holmes, English writer and poet (died 1936)
- Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian and microbiologist (died 1903)
- Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, responsible for diabetes mellitus (died 1935)
- Edward John Gregory, British painter (died 1909)
- Emanuel Schiffers, Russian chess player (died 1904)
- Ernest Albert Waterlow, English painter (died 1919)
- Ernst Bernheim, German-Jewish historian (died 1922)
- Fanny Davenport, U.S. actress (died 1898)
- Fernando Fernandez, Puerto Rican distiller (approximate date; died 1940)
- Georg von Vollmar, Socialist politician in Bavaria (died 1922)
- George Henschel, English musician (died 1934)
- George Hitchcock, U.S. artist (died 1913)
- Hamo Thornycroft, British sculptor (died 1925)
- Hendry Brown, U.S. outlaw (approximate date; died 1884)
- Henricus van de Wetering, Archbishop of Utrecht (died 1929)
- Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (died 1909)
- Hermann von Ihering, German-Brazilian zoologist (died 1930)

J-Z


- J. Walter Fewkes, U.S. anthropologist (died 1930)
- James Kenyon, British pioneer of cinematography (died 1925)
- James Moore, British cyclist
- Johann Büttikofer, Swiss zoologist (died 1929)
- John Casper Branner, U.S. geologist (died 1922)
- John Collier, British writer and painter (died 1934)
- John Perry, Irish engineer (died 1920)
- John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, Canadian portrait painter (died 1938)
- Johnny Ringo, U.S. cowboy (died 1892)
- Julius Wernher, German born British businessman and art collector (died 1912)
- Kate Chopin, U.S. novelist (died 1904)
- László Lukács, Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1932)
- Laura E. Richards, U.S. author (died 1943)
- Lawrence Hargrave, Australian engineer (died 1915)
- Léon-Adolphe Cardinal Amette, French Catholic cardinal and archbishop of Paris (died 1920)
- Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Catalan architect (died 1923)
- Lucien Gaulard, French inventor (died 1888)
- Maria Beatrix Krasińska, Polish noblewoman (died 1884)
- Montague Aldous, Canadian surveyor
- Murdo MacKenzie, Scottish-Brazilian rancher
- Oscar Straus, U.S. politician (died 1936)
- Pavel Axelrod, Russian politician (died 1928)
- Per Hasselberg, Swedish sculptor (died 1371)
- Philip Bourke Marston, English poet (died 1887)
- Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, U.S. Roman Catholic nun and social worker (died 1926)
- Rose la Touche, lover of John Ruskin
- Rudolf Hoernes, Austrian geologist
- Solomon Schechter, founder of the United Synagogue of America (died 1915)
- Steve Bellan, Cuban baseball player (died 1932)
- Thomas Alexander Smith, U.S. politician (died 1932)
- Victor Henry, French philologist (died 1907)
- Victor Laloux, French Beaux-Arts architect (died 1937)
- Vissarion Jughashvili, Joseph Stalin's father (approximate date; died 1890)
- William Lawrence, U.S. Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts (died 1941)
- William Pugsley, Canadian politician and lawyer (died 1925)
- William Wallace Wotherspoon, U.S. general (died 1921)
- Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Edweso (approximate date; died 1921)
- Zaharoff Basil, Anglo-Turkish financier and arms manufacturer (died 1936)

Deaths

January - May


- January 20 - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (born 1779)
- January 22 - William Joseph Chaminade, French Catholic priest (born 1761)
- January 26 - Francis Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic (born 1773)
- January 27 - Johann Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor (born 1764)
- January 27 - Philipp Roth, composer (born 1779)
- February 4 - Daniel Turner, officer in the United States Navy (born 1794)
- February 25 - Daoguang Emperor, of the Qing dynasty of China (born 1782)
- February 27 - Samuel Adams, Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas (born 1805)
- March 3 - Oliver Cowdery, U.S. religious leader (born 1806)
- March 26 - Samuel Turell Armstrong, U.S. political figure (born 1784)
- March 27 - Wilhelm Beer, German banker and astronomer (born 1797)
- March 28 - Gerard Brandon, Governor of Mississippi (born 1788)
- March 31 - John C. Calhoun, U.S. politician (born 1782)
- April 7 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (born 1762)
- April 9 - William Prout, English chemist and physician (born 1785)
- April 16 - Marie Tussaud, French wax sculptor (born 1761)
- April 23 - William Wordsworth, English poet (born 1770)
- April 24 - John Norvell, U.S. newspaperman and senator (born 1789)
- May 1 - Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (born 1777)
- May 10 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (born 1778)
- May 21 - Christoph Friedrich von Ammon, German theological writer and preacher (born 1766)
- May 31 - Giuseppe Giusti, Tuscan satirical poet (born 1809)

June - December


- June 19 - Margaret Fuller, U.S. journalist (born 1810)
- June 30 - Richard Dillingham, U.S. Quaker teacher (born 1823)
- July 2 - Robert Peel, British Prime Minister (born 1788)
- July 4 - William Kirby, English entomologist (born 1759)
- July 7 - Timothy Hackworth, British steam locomotive engineer
- July 8 - Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge (born 1774)
- July 9 - The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (born 1819)
- July 9 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (born 1784)
- July 9 - Jean Pierre Boyer, president of Haiti (born 1776)
- July 14 - August Neander, German theologian and church historian (born 1789)
- July 25 - Richard Barnes Mason, military governor of California (born 1797)
- August 3 - Jacob Jones, officer in the United States Navy (born 1768)
- August 13 - Martin Archer Shee, Irish portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy (born 1770)
- August 18 - Honoré de Balzac, French author (born 1799)
- August 22 - Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (born 1802)
- August 26 - King Louis-Philippe of France (born 1773)
- August 27 - Thomas Kidd, English classical scholar and schoolmaster (born 1770)
- September 12 - Presley O'Bannon, officer in the United States Marine Corps (born 1784)
- September 22 - Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist (born 1783)
- September 23 - José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan revolutionary (born 1764)
- October 2 - Sarah Biffen, English painter (born 1784)
- October 29 - Marmaduke Williams, Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (born 1774)
- November 2 - Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Democratic governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina (born 1796)
- November 3 - Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois (born 1800)
- November 4 - Gustav Schwab, German classical scholar (born 1792)
- November 19 - Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States (born 1780)
- November 22 - Lin Zexu, Chinese politician (born 1785)
- November 30 - Germain Henri Hess, Swiss chemist and doctor (born 1802)
- December 4 - William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor (born 1783)
- December 10 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (born 1787)
- December 22 - William Plumer, U.S. lawyer and lay preacher (born 1759)
- December 24 - Frédéric Bastiat French author and economist (born 1801)
- December 28 - Heinrich Christian Schumacher, German astronomer (born 1780)

Unknown Date


- Adoniram Judson, U.S. Baptist missionary (born 1788)
- Antoni Potocki, Polish nobleman (born 1780)
- Báb, Bahá'í herald (born 1819)
- Charles Arbuthnot, British Tory politician (born 1767)
- Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, British Tory politician (born 1775)
- Edward Bickersteth, English evangelical divine (born 1786)
- Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe (born 1762)
- Frances Sargent Osgood, U.S. poet (born 1811)
- François-Xavier-Joseph Droz, French writer on ethics and political science (born 1773)
- Hone Heke, Maori chief and war leader
- Jan Krukowiecki, Polish general (born 1772)
- Jane Porter, English novelist (born 1776)
- José Manuel de la Peña y Peña, interim President of Mexico (born 1789)
- Józef Bem, Polish general (born 1794)
- Juan Martín de Pueyrredón y O'Dogan, Argentine general and politician (born 1776)
- Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł, Polish noble (born 1778)
- Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, British military officer and colonial administrator (born 1775)
- Owen Stanley, British naval officer and explorer of New Guinea (born 1811)
- Robert Gilfillan, Scottish poet (born 1798)
- Robert Stevenson, Scottish lighthouse engineer (born 1772)
- Tan Tock Seng, Singaporean businessman philanthropists
- Valentín Canalizo, acting president of Mexico (born 1794)
- Saint Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary (born 1795)
- William Lawson, British explorer of New South Wales (born 1774)
- William Hamilton Maxwell, Scots-Irish novelist (born 1792) Category:1850 ko:1850년 ms:1850 simple:1850

President of the United States

The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated "POTUS") is the head of state of the United States. Under the U.S. Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The full title is President of the United States of America. Because of the superpower status of the United States, the American President is widely considered to be the most powerful person on Earth, and is usually one of the world's best-known public figures. During the Cold War, the President was sometimes referred to as "the leader of the free world," a phrase that is still invoked today. The United States was the first nation to create the office of President as the head of state in a modern republic. Today the office is widely emulated all over the world in nations with a presidential system of government. Many countries with a parliamentary system also have an office named "president", but the roles of this office vary widely, and the President in such systems usually has far more limited powers than the Prime Minister. The 43rd and current President of the United States is George W. Bush. His first term ran from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2005; his second term began on January 20, 2005 and ends on January 20, 2009; and President Bush is constitutionally barred from a third term.

Requirements to hold office

Section One of Article II of the U.S. Constitution establishes the requirements one must meet in order to become President. The president must be a natural-born citizen of the United States (or a citizen of the United States at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted), be at least 35 years old, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years. The natural-born citizenship requirement has been the subject of controversy. Critics argue that this requirement arbitrarily excludes some highly qualified candidates for the Presidency. They also charge that supporters fail to appreciate the contributions made by immigrants to American society. Proponents of the requirement argue that the requirement helps to ensure that the President fully understands and is a part of the American people and their outlook. Proponents also argue that the clause helps protect the country from foreign interference—another country could send an emigrant to the United States and through subterfuge get them elected. Many prominent public officials, such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA; born in Austria) and Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI; born in Canada), are barred from the presidency because they were not natural-born citizens. Constitutional amendments are occasionally proposed to remove or modify this requirement, but none have been successful.

Election

Presidential elections are held every four years. Presidents are elected indirectly, through the Electoral College. The President and the Vice President are the only two nationally elected officials in the United States. (Legislators are elected on a state-by-state basis; other executive officers and judges are appointed.)

Old system

Originally, each elector voted for two people for President. The votes were tallied and the person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that such a number was a majority of electors) became President, while the individual who was in second place became Vice President.

Current system

The Amendment XII in 1804 changed the electoral process by directing the electors to use separate ballots to vote for the President and Vice President. To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes, or if no candidate receives a majority, the President and Vice President are chosen by the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, as necessary.

Campaign

The modern Presidential election process begins with the primary elections, during which the major parties (currently the Democrats and the Republicans) each select a nominee to unite behind; the nominee in turn selects a running mate to join him on the ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. The two major candidates then face off in the general election, usually participating in nationally televised debates before Election Day and campaigning across the country to explain their views and plans to the voters. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states, through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.

Inauguration and oath of office

mass media Since 1933, with the ratification of Amendment XX, a newly elected President, or a re-elected incumbent, is sworn into office on January 20 of the year following the election, an event called Inauguration Day. Although the Chief Justice of the United States usually administers the presidential oath of office, the Constitution does not specify any requirements; thus, anyone with the legal authority to administer oaths can perform the duty. In accordance with Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 8 of the Constitution, upon entering office, the President must take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Only presidents Franklin Pierce and Herbert Hoover have chosen to affirm rather than swear. The oath is traditionally ended with, "So help me God," although for religious reasons some Presidents have said, "So help me", or "and thus I swear." On Inauguration Day, following the oath of office, the President customarily delivers an inaugural address which sets the tone for his administration. These addresses can reach the level of high oratory, from such stand-alone lines as Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," to entire speeches, such as Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.

Term(s) of office

Under the Constitution, the President serves a four-year term. Amendment XXII (which took effect in 1951 and was first applied to Dwight D. Eisenhower starting in 1953) limits the president to either two four-year terms or a maximum of ten years in office should he have succeeded to the Presidency previously and served two years at most completing his predecessor's term. Since then, three presidents have served two full terms: Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Incumbent President George W. Bush wou