This is a select bibliography of academic level books and journal articles, published mainly after World War II, about the history of Zachary Taylor and his historical context.

Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general and becoming a national hero for his victories in the Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was to preserve the Union. He died 16 months into his term from a stomach disease. Taylor had the third-shortest presidential term in U.S. history.

Works listed here are cited in the notes or bibliographies of scholarly sources. Each is published by an academic or major press, written by a recognized expert, or substantially reviewed in scholarly journals; borderline cases are omitted. A selection of primary sources are included. Many of the books below carry their own bibliographies; see the Further reading section for other bibliographies, and the External links section for historical sites, academic sites, and museums.

Citations follow APA style. Book have citations to academic journal or mainstream published reviews when available. For books only partly about the subject, relevant chapter or section titles are provided when useful and available. Translators of the original-language edition are included when possible. In cases where a title or name has appeared with more than one English spelling, the most recent published form is used and a footnote documents any earlier title under which the work appeared.

General works Bauer, K. J. (1985). Zachary Taylor: Soldier, planter, statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State University Press. Birkner, M. J. (2014). Zachary Taylor in office: Clay, the Whig Party, and the sectional crisis. In J. H. Silbey (Ed.), A companion to the antebellum presidents 1837–1861 (pp. 291–308). Wiley Blackwell. Currie, S. (1984). Zachary Taylor, plantation owner. Civil War History, 30(2), 144–156. Dyer, B. (1940). Zachary Taylor and the election of 1848. Pacific Historical Review, 9(2), 173–182. Dyer, B. (1946). Zachary Taylor. Louisiana State University Press. Eisenhower, J. S. D. (2008). Zachary Taylor. Times Books. Ellis, R. J., & Walker, A. (2007). Policy speech in the nineteenth century rhetorical presidency: The case of Zachary Taylor's 1849 tour. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 37(2), 248–269. Greenberg, G. S. (1990). Ohioans vs. Georgians: The Galphin claim, Zachary Taylor's death, and the congressional adjournment vote of 1850. The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 74(4), 575–598. Hamilton, H. (1941). The Vincennes days of Zachary Taylor. Indiana Magazine of History, 37(1), 65–71. Hamilton, H. (1941). Zachary Taylor in Illinois. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, 34(1), 84–91. Hamilton, H. (1941). Zachary Taylor: Soldier of the Republic. Bobbs-Merrill. Hamilton, H. (1949). Zachary Taylor and Minnesota. Minnesota History, 30(2), 97–110. Hamilton, H. (1951). Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House. Bobbs-Merrill. Hoyt, W. D. Jr. (1946). Zachary Taylor on Jackson and the military establishment, 1835. The American Historical Review, 51(3), 480–484. Jackson, J. (1997). General Taylor's "astonishing" map of northeastern Mexico. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 101(2), 143–173. Johnson, T. V. (2010). Punishing the lies on the Rio Grande: Catholic and immigrant volunteers in Zachary Taylor's army and the fight against nativism. Journal of the Early Republic, 30(1), 63–84. Kersey, H. A. Jr., & Petersen, M. (1997). "Was I a member of Congress ...": Zachary Taylor's letter to John J. Crittenden, January 12, 1838, concerning the Second Seminole War. The Florida Historical Quarterly, 75(4), 447–461. Kreneck, T. H. (1974). The neglected regiment: East Texas horsemen with Zachary Taylor. East Texas Historical Journal, 12(2), 22–31. Lynch, W. O. (1938). Zachary Taylor as president. The Journal of Southern History, 4(3), 279–294. Mansfield, L. S. (1938). Melville's comic articles on Zachary Taylor. American Literature, 9(4), 411–418. McKinley, S. B., & Bent, S. (1946). Old Rough and Ready: The life and times of Zachary Taylor. Vanguard Press. Parenti, M. (1998). The strange death of President Zachary Taylor: A case study in the manufacture of mainstream history. New Political Science, 20(2), 141–158. Smith, E. B. (1988). The presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. University Press of Kansas. Stegmaier, M. J. (1987). Zachary Taylor versus the South. Civil War History, 33(3), 219–241. Thonhoff, R. H. (1966). Taylor's trail in Texas. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 70(1), 7–22. Viola, H. J. (1969). Zachary Taylor and the Indiana volunteers. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 72(3), 335–346. Walton, B. G. (1969). The elections for the Thirtieth Congress and the presidential candidacy of Zachary Taylor. The Journal of Southern History, 35(2), 186–202.

Background and context

The below items contain significant information about Zachary Taylor or significant background and context for his life and presidency. Coffman, E. M. (1986). The old army: A portrait of the American Army in peacetime, 1784–1898. Oxford University Press. Freehling, W. W. (1990). The road to disunion: Vol. 1. Secessionists at bay, 1776–1854. Oxford University Press. Hamilton, H. (1964). Prologue to conflict: The crisis and compromise of 1850. University of Kentucky Press. Haynes, S. W., & Morris, C. (Eds.). (1997). Manifest destiny and empire: American antebellum expansionism. Texas A&M University Press. Hietala, T. R. (1985). Manifest design: Anxious aggrandizement in late Jacksonian America. Cornell University Press. Holt, M. F. (1999). The rise and fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian politics and the onset of the Civil War. Oxford University Press. Holt, M. F. (2004). The fate of their country: Politicians, slavery extension, and the coming of the Civil War. Hill and Wang. Howe, D. W. (2007). What hath God wrought: The transformation of America, 1815–1848. Oxford University Press. Mahon, J. K. (1967). History of the Second Seminole War, 1835–1842. University of Florida Press. Merk, F. (1963). Manifest destiny and mission in American history: A reinterpretation. Alfred A. Knopf. Missall, J., & Missall, M. L. (2004). The Seminole Wars: America's longest Indian conflict. University Press of Florida. Morrison, M. A. (1997). Slavery and the American West: The eclipse of manifest destiny and the coming of the Civil War. University of North Carolina Press. Nevins, A. (1947). Ordeal of the Union: Vol. 1. Fruits of manifest destiny, 1847–1852. Charles Scribner's Sons. Pletcher, D. M. (1973). The diplomacy of annexation: Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican War. University of Missouri Press. Potter, D. M. (1976). The impending crisis, 1848–1861 (D. E. Fehrenbacher, Ed.). Harper & Row. Prucha, F. P. (1969). The sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the frontier, 1783–1846. Macmillan. Rayback, J. G. (1970). Free soil: The election of 1848. University Press of Kentucky. Silbey, J. H. (2005). Storm over Texas: The annexation controversy and the road to Civil War. Oxford University Press. Silbey, J. H. (2009). Party over section: The rough and ready presidential election of 1848. University Press of Kansas. Silbey, J. H. (Ed.). (2014). A companion to the antebellum presidents 1837–1861. Wiley Blackwell. Skelton, W. B. (1992). An American profession of arms: The Army officer corps, 1784–1861. University Press of Kansas. Stegmaier, M. J. (1996). Texas, New Mexico, and the Compromise of 1850: Boundary dispute & sectional crisis. Kent State University Press. Watson, S. J. (2012). Jackson's sword: The Army officer corps on the American frontier, 1810–1821. University Press of Kansas. Watson, S. J. (2013). Peacekeepers and conquerors: The Army officer corps on the American frontier, 1821–1846. University Press of Kansas.

Mexican American War

The Great Debate and the Compromise of 1850 Bordewich, F. M. (2012). America's great debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the compromise that preserved the Union. Simon & Schuster. Campbell, S. W. (1970). The slave catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850–1860. University of North Carolina Press. Grodzins, D. (2010). "Slave law" versus "lynch law" in Boston: Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Theodore Parker, and the fugitive slave crisis, 1850–1855. Massachusetts Historical Review, 12, 1. Hamilton, H. (1954). Democratic Senate leadership and the Compromise of 1850. The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 41(3), 403. Hamilton, H. (1957). 'The cave of the winds' and the Compromise of 1850. The Journal of Southern History, 23(3), 331. Hamilton, H. (1964). Prologue to conflict: The crisis and compromise of 1850. University of Kentucky Press. Hodder, F. H. (1936). The authorship of the Compromise of 1850. The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 22(4), 525. Maizlish, S. E. (2018). A strife of tongues: The Compromise of 1850 and the ideological foundations of the American Civil War. University of Virginia Press. Middleton, S. (1987). The fugitive slave crisis in Cincinnati, 1850–1860: Resistance, enforcement, and Black refugees. The Journal of Negro History, 72(1–2), 20–32. Russel, R. R. (1956). What was the Compromise of 1850?. The Journal of Southern History, 22(3), 292. Stephenson, N. W. (1935). California and the Compromise of 1850. Pacific Historical Review, 4(2), 114–122. Waugh, J. C. (2003). On the brink of Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 and how it changed the course of American history. Scholarly Resources.

Historiography Faulk, O. B., & Stout, J. A. Jr. (Eds.). (1973). The Mexican War: Changing interpretations. Sage Books. Francaviglia, R. V., & Richmond, D. W. (Eds.). (2000). Dueling eagles: Reinterpreting the U.S.-Mexican War, 1846–1848. Texas Christian University Press. Graebner, N. A. (1978). Lessons of the Mexican War. Pacific Historical Review, 47(3), 325–342. Graebner, N. A. (1980). The Mexican War: A study in causation. Pacific Historical Review, 49(3), 405–426. Mallon, F. E. (1991). Beyond insularity: The challenge of nineteenth-century Mexican history. Latin American Research Review, 26(3), 247–256. Pubols, L. (2014). Changing interpretations of California's Mexican past. California History, 91(1), 16–22. Robinson, C. (Comp.). (1989). The view from Chapultepec: Mexican writers on the Mexican-American War. University of Arizona Press. Spahr, T. W. (2014). The Mexican–American War: A historiographical overview. In C. G. Frentzos & A. S. Thompson (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of American military and diplomatic history (pp. 273–280). Routledge.

Reference works Graff, H. F. (Ed.). (2002). The presidents: A reference history (3rd ed.). Charles Scribner's Sons.

Primary sources Fry, J. R. (2009). A life of Gen. Zachary Taylor. Applewood Books. (Original work published 1848) Zachary Taylor Presidential Papers Collection, The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Zachary Taylor from the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia Zachary Taylor Papers – Library of Congress. About 650 items, 1814–1931, the bulk falling 1840–1861: general correspondence, family papers, autobiographical material, business records and military documents, with letters from Jefferson Davis, Winfield Scott and James K. Polk, and material on his son Richard Taylor's sugar plantation. Series 1 to 5 were microfilmed in 1960 and those scans carry the online collection; series 6, added after 1960, was scanned from the originals.