Taylor continued to be active in Democratic Party politics. He interceded with President Andrew Johnson to gain the release of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, then still held in Fortress Monroe; and was a leading political opponent of Northern Reconstruction policies. He died on April 12, 1879, of dropsy (edema related to congestive heart failure) in New York City. He was visiting his friend and political ally Samuel L. M. Barlow I, a former Louisiana State Senator. Taylor's body was returned to Louisiana for burial at Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans.