Taylor took it as axiomatic that the Federal government would never interfere in the peculiar institution in the States, so he saw Statehood for the territories as a way of ending the issue.
But he failed to account for the impact of adding states on the Senate and its balance and how the the South would react to losing that.
The only reason the status of territories mattered was because the South was concerned that a Federal ban like that which existed in the Northwest Ordinance, would ensure that the territories would choose free status by default upon statehood. The controversy always revolved around what choice would be made at statehood and how it affected the Senate. Making states prematurely would simply move the day of reckoning up, not resolve it.
I am beginning to think there is artificial disagreement here. All we are doing is layering more detail on without changing the underlying points. If Taylor took the position that making all the territorities in question states was the magic bullet, he missed the boat on what caused the South's objections. Even so, it doesn't alter what I said previously about his motivations. Slavery wasn't at the forefront of his thinking when it came to statehood and he viewed statehood from a perspective of expanding the nation, which he saw as positive. Such a position as you describe, only adds further weight to my point that he failed to appreciate the political impact and the cancerous effect of the slave debate on that political situation. It in no way contradicts that point. If I were to have included every last detail in my intial post, its primary purpose of correcting Snowstalker would have been lost as the post would have taken on book length.
To simplify... When the south threatened secession, Taylor had a very simple solution. "I'll hang 'em... And I might start with my son in law, Jefferson Davis". Clearly, he didn't support the south's view.
But to answer the question of the poll, Polk has to be considered the best President on the list. He accomplished everything he set out to do. He successfully led the Mexican War and negotiated successfully to keep us out of another war with Great Britain.
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