Historedia
AmericasEvent

Zachary Taylor becomes 12th president; the Atchison 'president for a day' legend

When
1849
Where
Washington, D.C.; United States Capitol
Episodes
3

Zachary Taylor became the 12th U.S. president in 1849. Because March 4 fell on a Sunday, Taylor refused to take the oath on religious grounds, delaying his swearing-in to March 5. This gap fueled an urban legend that Senate President pro tempore David Rice Atchison served as president for a day, a claim dismissed by scholars.

Episodes

  1. March 4, 1849 · Washington, D.C.Refusal to Swear In on Sunday

    Taylor refused to take the oath on March 4 because it fell on a Sunday, delaying his inauguration to the next day.

  2. March 4-5, 1849 · Washington, D.C.The Atchison Legend Claim

    Associates claimed Atchison was acting president for 24 hours because neither Taylor nor Fillmore had been sworn in on March 4.

  3. March 5, 1849 · United States CapitolActual Swearing-In on March 5

    Taylor was sworn in on Monday, March 5, 1849, after the Sunday delay.

Background and detail

Background. Zachary Taylor was a career Army officer who rose to major general and became a national hero through his victories in the Mexican–American War. As president-elect he kept his distance from Washington, not resigning his Western Division command until late January 1849. The standard inauguration date was March 4, but in 1849 this date fell on a Sunday, prompting a delay in the public ceremony.

The Atchison Legend. David Rice Atchison served as president pro tempore of the Senate. Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, he followed the vice president in the line of succession. Since neither Taylor nor Vice President-elect Millard Fillmore had been sworn in on March 4, associates claimed Atchison was acting president for 24 hours.

Scholarly Consensus. Historians dismiss the claim that Atchison was president for a day. The legend arose because Taylor refused to take the oath on Sunday, March 4, due to religious concerns. The actual public inauguration occurred on Monday, March 5, when Taylor finally took the presidential oath of office.

People involved

Sources

  1. Zachary Taylor Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-13
  2. United States presidential inauguration Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-10
  3. David Rice Atchison Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.