Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/116

 PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

n

popular votes ; the Cass and Butler electors 1,220,544, and the Van Buren and Adams Freesoil ticket 291,262. The electoral col- lege gave Taylor and Fillmore 163 votes, and 127 to Cass and Butler. On March 4, 1849, General Taylor was inaugurated. In his message to Congress he recommended the admission of California to the Union, but did not favor the admission of either Utah or Mexico. On July 4, 1850, he at-

tended the ceremonies of laying the corner- stone of the Washington monument, and the heat of the day brought upon him cholera morbus, which caused his death, in the presence of his wife, his daughter, Eliz- abeth, and her husband, Colonel Bliss, his brother. Colonel Taylor, and family, and Jeflferson Davis and family, Vice-President Fillmore and his cabinet. He died at the White House, Washington, July 9, 1850.