• Source: Inauguration of Zachary Taylor

      • The inauguration of Zachary Taylor as the 12th president of the United States was held on Monday, March 5, 1849, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., and was the second instance of an inauguration being rescheduled due to March 4 falling on a Sunday, the Christian sabbath. This was the 16th regular inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both Zachary Taylor as president and Millard Fillmore as vice president. Taylor died 1 year, 126 days into this term, and Fillmore succeeded to the presidency. The presidential oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. Inauguration Day started off being cloudy with snow flurries, but turned to heavy snow during the inaugural balls.


      Inaugural festivities


      Three inaugural balls were held later that day. To accommodate the large numbers of guests anticipated to be at one of them, a temporary wooden building was built in the Judiciary Square plaza. The ticket price for the event was $10 cash; the menu included: terrapins, Charlotte Russe, oysters and Roman punch.


      The "presidency" of David Rice Atchison


      Taylor's term as president began on Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the next day out of religious concerns. Due to the postponement of the swearing-in ceremony until March 5, various friends and colleagues of Senator David Atchison asserted that on March 4–5, 1849, he was acting president of the United States. They argued that, since both President James K. Polk and Vice President George Dallas ceased to hold their offices at noon on March 4, and since neither Taylor nor Fillmore had yet sworn their prescribed oath of office, both offices were vacant. As a result, they claimed, in accordance with the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, Atchison, by virtue of being the president pro tempore of the United States Senate, was the nation's acting chief executive during the interregnum. Historians, constitutional scholars and biographers dismiss the claim.


      See also


      Presidency of Zachary Taylor
      1848 United States presidential election


      References




      External links



      More documents from the Library of Congress
      Text of Taylor's Inaugural Address
      Joseph Gungl's Inauguration Quadrille was played at President Taylor's inauguration and dedicated to Mrs. Taylor.

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